{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_47178/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_47178","id":"gutenberg_47178","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/47178","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Fairy tales"],"text":"FAIRY TALES FROM MANY LANDS\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nFAIRY TALES FROM MANY LANDS\n\n    BY\n    KATHARINE PYLE\n\n    AUTHOR OF \"WHERE THE WIND BLOWS,\" \"THE COUNTERPANE FAIRY,\"\n    \"CARELESS JANE AND OTHER TALES,\" ETC.\n\n    WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR\n\n[Illustration]\n\n    NEW YORK\n    E. P. DUTTON & CO., INC.\n\n\n\n\n    Copyright, 1911\n    BY E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY\n\n    _First printing        October, 1911_\n    _Second printing       July, 1917_\n    _Third printing        August, 1920_\n    _Fourth printing       October, 1925_\n    _Fifth printing        March, 1926_\n    _Sixth printing        Feb., 1932_\n    _Seventh printing      Nov., 1938_\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                                  PAGE\n    THE SEVEN GOLDEN PEAHENS                        11\n    MISHOSHA, THE MAGICIAN OF THE LAKE              47\n    HAAMDAANEE AND THE WISE GAZELLE                 79\n    THE TWO SISTERS                                 98\n    THE FEATHER OF THE ZHAR BIRD                   118\n    THE BEAUTIFUL MARIA DI LEGNO                   140\n    THE EVIL ONE WHO MARRIED THREE SISTERS         176\n    THE FAITHFUL DOG                               196\n    KEMPION                                        209\n    BUTTERCUP                                      219\n    THE SUN AND THE MOON                           238\n    HOW THE ELEPHANT AND THE WHALE WERE TRICKED    247\n    CHERRY                                         261\n    DIAMONDS AND ROSES AND PEARLS                  280\n    THE THREE COWS                                 295\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n                                                                 PAGE\n    The gulls carried him swiftly back to Mishosha's\n          Island                                        _Frontispiece_\n    There were many beautiful dresses among the\n          treasures of the palace                                 102\n    She lifted it in her hands and tasted it                      128\n    Each one was said to be handsomer than the others             176\n    Overcome with joy at the sight of such a treasure             198\n    \"Then show me how, and I will hold the ax for you\"            234\n    \"Ha!\" cried the Sun, \"is it you, fair one?\"                   244\n    He was richly dressed and looked like a foreigner             264\n    She lifted the heavy pitcher for her to drink                 282\n\n\n\n\nFAIRY TALES FROM MANY LANDS\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE SEVEN GOLDEN PEAHENS\n\n(_From the Servian Folk Lore_)\n\n\nTHERE was once a king who had three sons, and he had also a golden\napple tree, that bore nothing but golden apples, and this tree he loved\nas though it had been his daughter. The king was never able, however,\nto have any of the fruit it bore, for no sooner were the apples ripe\nthan they would disappear in the night, and this in spite of a guard\nbeing set around the garden to watch it and see that no one entered in.\n\nOne time the eldest prince came to the king and asked to be allowed to\nkeep watch over the tree that night. \"And if I do,\" said he, \"I promise\nyou that nothing shall be allowed to approach it, not even the smallest\nsparrow.\"\n\nThe king consented to this, so that evening the prince took his sword,\nand went out into the garden to mount guard over the tree. Scarcely had\nit become dark when he heard a sound of wings beating through the air,\nand this sound made him so drowsy that his eyelids weighed like lead,\nand he fell into a deep sleep. When he awoke it was morning, and all\nthe apples were gone from the tree.\n\nThe prince returned to the palace, and was obliged to confess to the\nking that he had slept all the night through.\n\nThe king was very angry, but the second son said, \"My father, allow me\nto keep watch over the tree the next time, and I promise you I will do\nbetter than my brother, for I will not so much as close my eyes until\ndaybreak.\"\n\nThe king was willing, so when evening came the second son took his\nsword and went into the garden to watch the tree as his brother had\ndone before him.\n\nHardly was it dark before he heard the sound of wings, and then in\nspite of himself his eyes closed and he fell into a deep sleep. He\nnever stirred until daylight, and when he sat up and looked about him\nevery apple was gone.\n\nAfter this it was the turn of the third son to watch the tree, but he\nwas a very wise prince. He had listened to all his brothers had to say\nabout the sound of wings they had heard, and how the sound had put them\nto sleep, and before he went into the garden he stuffed his ears with\ncotton so that he could hear nothing. Then he placed himself near the\ntree and began his watch.\n\nAs soon as it was dark the sound of beating wings began, and the sound\ndrew nearer and nearer, but the prince did not hear it because of the\ncotton in his ears. Then a light appeared in the sky, and seven golden\npeahens flew into the garden. They shone so that all the place was lit\nup as though by the light of day. Six of the peahens settled on the\nbranches of the apple tree and began to shake down the apples, but the\nseventh changed into the most beautiful princess the prince had ever\nseen in all his life. Her hair was like a golden cloud about her; her\neyes were as blue as the sky, and from head to foot she was dressed\nall in cloth of gold. She began to gather up the fruit that the others\nshook down to her, and for awhile the prince could neither stir nor\nspeak for wonder of her beauty. Then he took the cotton from his ears,\nand went over to her, and began to talk to her and ask her who she was.\n\nAt first when the princess saw him she was frightened, but presently\nshe told him that she and the six peahens were the daughters of a king\nwho lived far away, and that they had flown over seven mountains and\nover seven seas, all for the love of the golden apples. She also told\nhim that by day she and her sisters lived in a beautiful pleasure\npalace their father had built for them, but when night came they\nchanged themselves into peahens, and flew about the world wherever they\nchose.\n\nAfter a while the day began to break, and then the princess changed\nherself into a peahen again, and she and her sisters flew away, but she\nleft with the prince three of the golden apples she had gathered.\n\nThe prince returned to the palace and gave the apples to his father,\nand the king was delighted at the sight of them. \"And did you find out\nwho it is that steals them?\" he asked.\n\nInstead of answering him, the prince managed to put him off, and the\nnext night he said he would watch in the garden again. Then the same\nthing happened. He stopped his ears with cotton, the seven peahens\narrived and six alighted in the tree, but the seventh became a\nbeautiful princess, and came across the garden to him. Then the prince\nunstopped his ears and they talked together until daybreak, when she\nflew away with her sisters, and this time, as before, she left three of\nthe apples with him.\n\nAs soon as it was morning the prince carried the apples to his father,\nand now, whether or no, the king would have him say who it was who came\ninto the garden every night to steal the fruit.\n\nThe prince was obliged to tell his story, but when he said it was seven\ngolden peahens that stole the apples, and that they were the daughters\nof a great king his father would scarcely believe him. The brothers,\ntoo, laughed him to scorn, for they were very jealous of him. \"This is\na strange story,\" they cried, \"and it certainly cannot be true. Either\nyou are trying to deceive us, or you fell asleep and dreamed it all.\"\n\n\"It is all certainly true,\" answered the youngest brother, \"and there\nare the three golden apples to prove it.\"\n\n\"They are no proof,\" answered the others. \"If you would have us believe\nyou, keep watch in the garden again to-night, and when the princess\ncomes cut a lock of her golden hair and keep it to show to us. When we\nsee that then we will believe you.\"\n\nAt first the prince would not consent to do this, but they were so\nurgent that he finally agreed, and when he went into the garden he took\na pair of sharp scissors with him. After a time the golden peahens\nflew into the garden, and after the youngest sister had changed into\na princess, she and the prince talked together all night. When she was\nabout to go the prince managed, without being seen, to take hold of a\nlock of her hair and cut it off.\n\nNo sooner had he done this, however, than the princess gave a sorrowful\ncry. \"Alas, alas!\" said she, \"If you had only been patient for a little\nwhile longer all would have gone well. Now I must go away forever, and\nyou will never see me again unless you journey over the seven seas and\nover the seven mountains to seek me.\" Then she changed into a peahen,\nand flew away with the others.\n\nThe prince was filled with despair at the thought that he had lost her,\nfor he loved her so well that he did not know how he could live without\nher.\n\nIn the morning his father and his brothers came to seek him in the\ngarden, and when they saw the lock of golden hair they were obliged to\nbelieve him, and they could not wonder enough.\n\nBut the young prince saddled his horse and set out in search of his\nprincess. On he went and on he went, and everywhere he rode he asked\nthose he met whether they had seen seven golden peahens, but no one\ncould tell him anything about them.\n\nAt last after he had journeyed over seven mountains, and over seven\nseas, he came to a palace that stood beside a lake, and in this palace\nlived an enchantress queen and her daughter. He knocked at the door and\nwhen the queen came to see who was there he once more asked whether\nshe could tell him anything of the seven golden peahens who were the\ndaughters of a king.\n\n\"Oh, yes, that I can,\" answered the queen, \"and if you are in search of\nthem you have not much further to go. Every morning they come to bathe\nin this lake, and anyone who watches them can see them.\"\n\nWhen the prince heard this he was filled with joy and would have set\nout for the lake at once, but the queen, seeing how young and handsome\nhe was, begged him to come in and rest for awhile. \"Why do you follow\nafter these seven princesses?\" she asked. \"My daughter is a princess,\ntoo, and a beautiful girl. If you can take a fancy to her you shall\nmarry her and live here and after I die this palace and all that is in\nit shall be yours.\"\n\nThe prince, however, would not listen to this, for he loved the golden\npeahen princess with all his heart, and her alone would he marry.\n\nWhen the queen found that he was not to be persuaded she pretended to\nfall in with his wishes. \"Very well,\" said she, \"it shall be as you\ndesire, but let me send someone with you to show you the way to the\nlake.\"\n\nThe prince thanked her, and she called a servant to go with him, but\nbefore they set out she took the servant aside and gave him privately\na small pair of bellows. \"When you reach the lake,\" said she, \"take an\nopportunity to get behind the prince and blow upon the back of his neck\nwith these bellows. If you do this I will reward you well.\"\n\nThe servant promised to obey her and then he and the prince set out\ntogether.\n\nWhen they reached the shore the prince sat down on some rocks to watch\nfor the peahens, but the servant got back of him and blew upon his neck\nwith the bellows and immediately the prince fell asleep.\n\nPresently there was a light in the sky and the seven golden peahens\ncame flying and alighted upon the borders of the lake. Six of them\nbegan to bathe themselves in its waters but the seventh one changed\ninto a princess. She came over to the prince and began to call to him\nand caress him, but she could not awaken him from his sleep.\n\nAfter a time the peahens came up from the water, and the princess said\nto the servant, \"Tell your master when he awakens twice more will I\ncome but never again.\" Then she and the others all flew away together.\n\nWhen the prince awoke and found that the princess had been there\nand had tried in vain to awaken him, he was ready to die with grief\nand disappointment. However, she would return the next day, and he\ndetermined he would be there watching for her and that this time he\nwould not by any means allow himself to fall asleep.\n\nSo the next morning he hurried down to the lake again, and the servant\nwent with him, but before they left the castle the queen gave the\nservant the pair of bellows, and bade him blow upon the back of the\nprince's neck when he was not aware of it.\n\nThey reached the lake, and the prince would not sit down for he feared\nhe might fall asleep again, but the servant managed to get back of him\nand blow upon his neck with the bellows. Then, in spite of himself the\nprince sank down in a deep sleep.\n\nPresently the peahens came flying, and as before the youngest sister\ncame over to the prince and began to call and caress him, but he still\nslept on in spite of her. Then she turned to the servant and said to\nhim, \"Tell your master when he awakens that once more will I come and\nnever again, but unless he cuts the head of the nail from the body he\nwill never see me.\"\n\nWhen the prince awoke and heard the message the princess had left he\nunderstood that the servant had deceived him, and that the princess\nmeant unless he destroyed the servant he would never find her. So the\nnext day when they started out together the prince took a sharp sword\nwith him. He waited until they were out of sight of the castle, and\nthen he turned and cut the servant's head from his shoulders and went\non down, alone, to the lake.\n\nHe had not been there long when he saw a light, and heard the seven\npeahens coming. No sooner had they alighted than the seventh one\nchanged into the beautiful princess. When she saw that the prince was\nawake and watching for her, she was overcome with joy. \"Now we shall\nnever be parted again,\" she said, \"but you shall go to our palace with\nme and be my own dear husband.\"\n\nThen she changed him into a golden peacock, and the six peahens came\nup from the water and they all flew away together. On and on they\nwent until they came to the pleasure palace the king had built for\nhis daughters, and there the golden peacock was changed back into a\nprince, and the peahens became seven princesses. The prince was married\nto the youngest one, amidst great rejoicings and they all lived there\nhappily together.\n\nEverything went joyfully for seven months, and then the princess came\nto the prince and said, \"My dear husband, the time has now come when\nmy sisters and I must go to pay a visit to the king our father. You\ncannot go with us, but if you will obey what I am about to tell you all\nwill go well. We will be away for three days, and during that time the\npalace and all that is in it will be yours. You may go where you please\nexcept into the third cellar that is over beyond the others. There you\nmust not go, for if you do some terrible misfortune will certainly come\nupon both of us.\"\n\nThe prince promised that all should be as she wished, and then she and\nher sisters flew away together leaving him alone.\n\nFor the first day the prince did not go near the cellar and scarcely\nthought of it. The second day he looked to see where it was, and when\nhe came to the door it was so heavily chained and bolted that he could\nnot but wonder what was back of it, and the third day he could think of\nnothing but the cellar and what was in it. At last he felt that come\nwhat might he must see what treasure it was that was kept locked away\nbehind that door. He went down to it again and began to unfasten the\nbolts and bars; the last one fell and he opened the door and stepped\ninside and looked about him. There was nothing there to see but a great\nchest with holes bored in the lid, and bound about with nine bands of\niron.\n\nThe prince stared and wondered, and while he still stood there he heard\na groaning sound from within the chest, and a voice cried, \"Brother,\nfor the love of mercy give me some water to wet my poor mouth.\"\n\nThe prince was always pitiful toward those in trouble, and as soon as\nhe heard this, without stopping to inquire what was inside of the chest\nhe ran and fetched a cup of water and poured it through one of the\nholes.\n\nScarcely had he done this before there was a straining sound, and three\nof the iron bands burst asunder.\n\n\"Brother, that was scarcely enough to wet my mouth,\" said the voice\ninside. \"For the love of mercy give me another cup of water to cool my\nthroat.\"\n\nThe prince ran and fetched the water and poured it through the hole in\nthe lid, and now three more of the iron bands burst asunder.\n\n\"More water, brother; more, for the love of mercy,\" cried the voice.\n\"That still is not enough to quench my thirst.\"\n\nThe prince fetched a third cup of water and poured it into the chest,\nand now with a sound like thunder the last of the iron bands were\nbroken, and out from the chest flew a great green dragon. It flew up\nthrough the cellars and out of the castle, and the prince ran after it.\n\nThe seven princesses were just coming home, and without even stopping\nfor a moment the dragon caught up the youngest one in his claws and\nflew away with her, and the prince still ran after them shouting\nlike one distracted. Even after the dragon had disappeared over the\nmountains the prince ran on, and when he could no longer run he walked.\n\nOn and on he went, and after a while he came to a stream, and in a hole\nnear it lay a small fish gasping for breath.\n\n\"Brother,\" it cried, \"for the love of mercy put me back in the water;\nbut first take one of my scales, and if you are ever in need rub it and\ncall upon me, and I may be able to help you.\"\n\nThe prince stooped and took up the fish, but before he put it back in\nthe water he took from it a tiny scale as it had bade him. This scale\nhe wrapped carefully in his handkerchief, and journeyed on again,\nleaving the fish happy at being again in the stream.\n\nLater on he came to a forest, and under some bushes lay a fox whining\nto itself with its paw caught in a trap. \"Brother,\" it called to the\nprince as soon as it saw him, \"for the love of mercy open this trap and\nlet me go free. It may be that I may succor you in a time of need.\"\n\nThe prince was sorry for the poor animal, and managed to pry open the\ntrap.\n\nThe fox thanked him, and before it ran away it told him to pull three\nhairs from its tail. \"If you are ever in need, rub those hairs and call\nupon me,\" it said, \"and wherever I am I will hear and come to help you.\"\n\nThe prince thanked him and journeyed on, and in the depths of the\nforest he came upon a wolf which was caught by a rock that had fallen\non its paw.\n\n\"Help, brother, for the love of mercy,\" cried the wolf.\n\nThe prince managed to roll away the rock, and when the wolf found it\nwas free it gave him three hairs from its tail. \"If you are ever in\nneed, rub these hairs and call upon me,\" he said, \"and wherever I am I\nwill come and help you.\"\n\nThe prince thanked him and journeyed on, and before long he came out\nof the forest and saw before him a great castle that stood upon a\nmountain. While he stood there looking at it the gate opened and out\nrode the dragon on a great coal-black horse. Then the prince knew that\nthis was the place he was in search of. He waited until the dragon had\ndisappeared, and then he went up to the castle and entered in, and\nthe very first person he saw was his own dear wife sitting alone and\nweeping. As soon as she saw him she jumped up and ran into his arms,\nand after they had kissed and caressed each other they began to plan\nhow they could escape.\n\nOut in the stable was another horse, and this the prince saddled. He\nmounted upon it and took the princess up before him, and then they rode\ndown the mountain and away as fast as they could go.\n\nIt was not until evening that the dragon returned to the castle, but\nas soon as he came in and found the princess was gone he knew what had\nhappened, and that she had ridden away with the prince.\n\nThen he took counsel with his coal-black horse, and asked it, \"Shall we\nride after them at once, or shall we eat and drink first?\"\n\n\"Let us eat and drink first,\" answered the horse, \"for even after that\nwe can easily catch up with them.\"\n\nSo the dragon sat down and ate and drank, and then he mounted his steed\nand rode after the runaways. He soon caught up with them, and took the\nprincess from the prince, and set her on his own horse in front of him.\n\"This one time I will spare you,\" he said to the prince, \"because you\nhad mercy upon me when I was a prisoner in the cellar, but if you ever\ncome to my castle again I will certainly destroy you.\" Then he rode\nback home again faster than the wind, carrying the princess with him.\n\nThe prince waited until he was out of sight, and then he turned the\nhorse loose and started back toward the castle, for even the dragon's\nthreat could not keep him away from his dear princess.\n\nWhen he had come within sight of the castle again he hid himself and\nwaited until the next day when the dragon had ridden away. Then he\nwent up to the castle and hunted through the rooms until he found the\nprincess.\n\nWhen she saw him she began to tremble with fear and wring her hands.\n\"Why have you returned?\" she cried. \"Do you not remember that if the\ndragon finds you here he will tear you to pieces?\"\n\n\"Listen, dear one,\" said the prince. \"I will hide myself behind the\ncurtains, and when the dragon comes home you must find out from him\nwhere he got his coal-black steed, for I can easily see that unless we\nfind a match to it we will never be able to escape from him.\"\n\nThis the princess agreed to do, and they talked together until they\nheard the dragon returning, and then the prince hid himself back of the\ncurtains.\n\nWhen the dragon came in the princess pretended to be very glad to see\nhim, and at this he was delighted, for always before she had met him\nwith tears and reproaches.\n\nAfter a time she said, \"That is a very wonderful horse that you have.\nDo you suppose there is another one like it in all the world?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the dragon, \"there is one and only one, and that is the\nbrother of my steed.\"\n\nThe princess asked him where this wonderful steed was to be found,\nand the dragon told her it belonged to the old gray woman who had but\none eye and lived at such and such a place. \"She has twelve beautiful\nhorses standing in her stable,\" the dragon went on, \"but this steed is\nnone of them. It is the lean and sorry nag that is crowded away in the\nfurthest stall, and no one to look at it would think it worth anything,\nbut all the same it is the brother of my horse, and to the full as good\nas he is.\"\n\n\"And would it be possible for anyone to get that horse?\" asked the\nprincess.\n\n\"Possible but difficult. If anyone serves the old gray woman for three\ndays, and during that time is able to fulfill her bidding he will be\nable to ask his own reward and she cannot refuse him; in that way can\nhe gain possession of that horse and in no other.\"\n\nThe prince heard all this behind the curtain where he was hidden, and\nafter a time, when the dragon had gone to sleep he stole out and set\nforth in search of the old gray woman who had but one eye.\n\nHe went on and on, and after a while he came to the house and there was\nthe old gray woman herself looking out of the window.\n\nHe knocked at the door, and when she opened it he asked whether he\nmight take service with her.\n\n\"Yes, you may,\" answered the old gray woman, \"for I am in need of a\nstout lad to drive my black mare out to the pasture and keep her from\nrunning away. If you can do this for three days you may ask what reward\nyou choose and it shall be yours, but if you are not able to bring her\nhome every evening your head shall be cut from your shoulders and set\nupon a stake.\"\n\nThe prince agreed to this bargain, and the next morning, as soon as\nit was light, he drove the black mare out to the pasture. Before they\nstarted however the old woman went to the black mare's stall and\nwhispered in her ear, \"To-day you must change yourself into a fish and\nhide down in the stream for there the lad will never be able to find\nyou.\"\n\nWhen the prince reached the pasture with the mare he determined to sit\nupon her back all day, for if he did that he was sure she could never\nescape from him. He sat there for a long time, but he grew drowsier and\ndrowsier, and at last he fell fast asleep. When he awoke he was seated\non a log of wood with the halter still in his hand, and the mare was\ngone.\n\nThe prince was in despair, but suddenly he remembered the promise the\nlittle fish had made him. He took out the scale which he had been\ncarrying all this time, and rubbing it gently he cried:\n\n    \"Little fish, if friend indeed,\n     Help me in my time of need.\"\n\nImmediately the little fish stuck its head up from a stream near by.\n\"What can I do to help you, brother?\" it asked.\n\n\"Can you tell me where the black mare has gone?\" asked the prince.\n\n\"Yes; she has changed herself into a fish and is hiding down in the\nstream with us. But do not trouble yourself about that. Just strike the\nhalter upon the ground and call out, 'Black mare, black mare, come out\nfrom among the fishes for it is time to go home.'\"\n\nThe prince did as the fish bade him and as soon as the black mare down\nin the stream heard those words it was obliged to come out and take its\nnatural shape again. The prince then mounted upon it and rode it home.\n\nWhen they reached the stable the old gray woman was on the watch, and\nshe could scarcely hide her rage and disappointment at finding the\nserving lad had managed to bring the black mare home. However, she bade\nhim go to the kitchen and get his supper, and she followed the black\nmare to the stall. \"You fool,\" she cried, and she was ready to beat it\nin her rage, \"why did you not hide among the fishes as I bade you?\"\n\n\"Mistress, I did,\" answered the mare, \"but the fishes are friends of\nthe lad, and told him where I was, so I was obliged to come forth.\"\n\n\"To-morrow, change yourself into a fox and hide among the pack. There\nhe will certainly be unable to find you.\"\n\nAfter that she went into the kitchen where the lad was eating his\nsupper.\n\n\"Well,\" she said, \"you have done very well so far, but to-morrow is\nstill another day, and we will see how things go then.\"\n\nOn the morrow the prince rode the black mare out to pasture, and again\nhe sat on her back so that she should not escape him. After awhile\nhe fell asleep in spite of himself, and when he awoke he was sitting\nastride of a branch with the halter in his hand.\n\nAt first the prince did not know what to do; he was in despair. Then\nhe remembered the promise the fox had made him. He took the hairs and\nrubbed them between his fingers.\n\n    \"Little fox, if friend indeed,\n     Help me in my time of need,\"\n\nhe said.\n\nImmediately the little red fox came running out of the wood. \"What\nwould you have of me, brother?\" he asked.\n\n\"Can you tell me where the gray woman's black mare has gone?\"\n\n\"That is easily answered. She has changed herself into a fox and is\nhiding with the pack. Strike the halter on the ground and call out:\n'Black mare, black mare, come from among the foxes; it is time to go\nhome.'\"\n\nThe prince did as he was told and as soon as the mare heard him calling\nto her in this way she was obliged to come out from the pack and take\nher real shape, and the prince mounted upon her back and rode her home.\n\nWhen the witch saw him riding back to the house she ground her teeth\nwith rage. As soon as she had sent him to the kitchen she went out to\nthe black mare's stall to beat it. \"To the foxes! to the foxes! That\nwas what I told you,\" she cried.\n\n\"Mistress, I did hide among them as you bade me,\" answered the mare,\n\"but this lad is a friend of the foxes too, and they told him where I\nwas.\"\n\n\"Then to-morrow hide among the wolves,\" said the old woman. \"He will\ncertainly never look for you there.\"\n\nThe next day it was the same thing over again. The prince sat on the\nmare's back so that she should not escape him. After while he went to\nsleep, and the mare slipped away from him, but this time it was into a\nwolf she changed herself.\n\nWhen the prince awoke he was in despair, until he remembered that he\nhad still one friend to help him. He gently rubbed the hairs the wolf\nhad given him, and said,\n\n    \"Kind gray wolf, if friend indeed,\n     Help me in my time of need.\"\n\nImmediately the wolf came galloping out of the wood and asked the\nprince what he could do for him.\n\nThe prince told him how he had been set to watch the black mare and\nhad gone to sleep and lost her; \"And now,\" said he, \"I fear there is\nnothing for me but to lose my head and have it set upon a post.\"\n\n\"That will not happen yet,\" answered the wolf. \"The mare has changed\nherself to a wolf and is hiding with the pack. Strike the halter on the\nground and call to her and she will be obliged to come.\"\n\nThe prince did as he was told and called to the mare to come, and she\nwas obliged to take her real shape and come out to him.\n\nThe prince slipped the halter over her head, sprang upon her back and\nrode her home.\n\nWhen the old gray woman saw him coming in this way instead of upon his\nfeet, she almost burst with rage. However, there was no help for it.\nThe lad had earned his wages, and have them he must.\n\n\"And what is it you will choose?\" asked the old gray woman.\n\n\"Give me the poor nag that stands in the furthest stall,\" said the\nprince. \"It is but a sorry looking beast, but I will be content with\nthat,\" answered the prince.\n\nWhen the old woman heard that she turned green in the face. She offered\nhim first one and then another of the handsome horses in her stable,\nbut the lad would have none of them. The sorry nag was his choice\nand it alone would he take, and in the end the old woman was obliged\nto give it to him. He rode away on it, and it was not the old gray\nmother's blessing that went with him.\n\nWhen they were well out of sight of the house and in the depths of the\nforest, the prince alighted and taking out a curry comb he had brought\nwith him he began to rub and curry the horse, and when he had done that\nit shone like burnished silver.\n\nThen he mounted again and rode on until he came to the dragon's castle.\nAs soon as he drew near, the princess came running down to meet him,\nfor the dragon was away, and she had been watching from a high tower\nand had seen him coming.\n\nHe took her up on the saddle before him and turned his horse's head and\nrode away from the castle even faster than he had ridden toward it, and\nthey had journeyed far before the dragon returned home.\n\nAs soon as he reached there and found the princess gone he knew what\nhad happened. Then he said to his horse, \"Shall we follow after them\nnow, or shall we eat and drink first?\"\n\n\"We have no time for meat or drink now,\" answered the black horse, \"and\nit will be all I can do to overtake them, for now they ride my own\nbrother.\"\n\nThen the dragon leaped upon his horse, and off they flew, faster than\nthe wind, in pursuit of the prince and princess. They went on and on,\nand after a while the dragon came within sight of them, for though the\nwhite horse was swifter than the wind, too, he carried double and so\ncould not go at his highest speed.\n\nNearer and nearer came the dragon and his steed, and the prince began\nto beg and plead with his steed to go faster, but it answered, \"There\nis no need of that, master; only leave everything to me and all will go\nwell.\"\n\nThen the black horse came near enough to speak, and he called after\nthe other, \"For mercy's sake go slower, brother. I shall kill myself\nrunning after you.\"\n\n\"There is no need of your doing that,\" answered the white horse. \"Throw\nup your heels and rid yourself of the monster that sits upon your back.\nYou have been his servant too long as it is.\"\n\nWhen the black horse heard this he began to plunge and kick up his\nheels so that the dragon was thrown from his back and falling upon a\nrock he was broken to pieces.\n\nBut the black horse came up to his brother, and the prince set the\nprincess upon his back, while he himself kept the white horse to ride.\nSo they all journeyed back to the pleasure palace together, and when\nthe six sisters saw them there were great rejoicings, and they all\nlived together happily in the palace forever after.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nMISHOSHA, THE MAGICIAN OF THE LAKE\n\n(_From Tales of the American Indians_)\n\n\nUPON the borders of a wide and lonely lake lived an Indian with his\nwife and two children.\n\nEvery day the Indian went off into the forest in search of game, and\nafter he had gone the woman always sent the two boys down to play by\nthe edge of the lake. This she did because she had a lover who came to\nvisit her while her husband was away and she was afraid if her children\nsaw him they might speak of him before their father.\n\nOne day the husband came back from his hunting earlier than usual. He\nheard voices in the lodge and stole up to it and peeped in. There he\nsaw a strange man sitting with his wife and talking to her. The Indian\nwas so angry that he threw the game down before the door, and strode\noff into the forest never to return.\n\nSo silently had he come and gone that his wife did not know he had\nbeen there until she came out and saw the game lying near the door\nwhere he had thrown it and his bow and arrows beside it. Then she was\nfrightened, for she thought he would return later when she was alone\nand beat her. She begged her lover to take her with him, and as he\nwas willing they stole away together, with not a thought of the two\nchildren left playing down by the lake.\n\nAfter some time had passed the two boys tired of their play and\nwondered why their mother did not call them as usual. They grew hungry\nand at last came up to the lodge for food. There all was silent and\ndeserted. There was no sound nor movement except among the leaves\noverhead. The boys called aloud, but there was no answer. Beside the\ndoor still lay the game that their father had brought, and to satisfy\ntheir hunger the older brother cut some pieces from it and cooked them\nat the fire. When night came they crept into a corner of the lodge and\nbegan to weep. They knew now that they were deserted.\n\nAfter this the two brothers lived all alone. The older, Panigwun knew\nhow to shoot, and every day he took his father's bow and arrows and\nwent off into the forest for game. Almost always he was able to bring\nsomething home with him.\n\nThe younger brother did nothing but play. He was very mischievous. One\nday when Panigwun was making a fire he carried the bow and arrows down\nto the lake, and began to amuse himself by shooting them into the\nwater. Presently the elder brother saw what he was doing and called to\nhim not to waste the arrows. The boy only ran further along the shore\nand kept on shooting. The elder brother ran after him and took the bow\nand arrows from his hands. Out in the lake a number of arrows floated\non the water, and not wishing to lose them Panigwun waded out to get\nthem. Some were quite far from the shore and by the time he reached the\nlast one the water was up to his armpits. The younger brother stood on\nthe shore laughing.\n\nSuddenly from around a bend in the lake appeared a canoe, and in it\nsat an old man with streaming gray hair. He held no paddle, but the\ncanoe swept onward of its own power, for it was a magic canoe, and the\nold man was Mishosha, the magician of the lake. When it reached the\nspot where Panigwun still stood the magician leaned over the side and\nlifted the boy into it. Then he slapped the side of the canoe. \"CHEMANN\nPOLL,\" he cried. Immediately it turned and sped away toward a large\nisland that lay in the middle of the lake.\n\nThe little boy, when he saw his elder brother being carried away from\nhim, ran down to the edge of the lake, crying piteously. \"Take me\nwith you! Take me too!\" he called. But the canoe still swept onward.\nHe waded out into the lake as far as he dared, and stood there for\nsome time weeping and calling his brother's name; but there was no\nanswer, the canoe had disappeared. At last he turned and waded back to\nthe shore. Then he threw himself down and wept bitterly. He was now\nentirely deserted.\n\nMeanwhile the elder brother had been carried to the island where the\nmagician lived. It was in vain that he begged to be taken back to his\nlittle brother, or even that the little boy might be taken with them;\nthe magician made no answer. When the canoe reached the shore of the\nisland, Mishosha stepped from it, and motioned to Panigwun to follow\nhim. He led the way back from the water and through bushes and past\nrocks and stopped at last before a lodge where two young girls were\nbusy preparing a meal. They did not speak, but they cast looks of pity\nat the companion the magician had brought with him.\n\nMishosha spoke to the older of the two girls in a harsh voice. \"I have\nbrought you a youth who shall be your husband when you are old enough\nto marry. Take him to an empty lodge, and mind, no chattering on the\nway or you will be sorry for it.\"\n\nThe girl started when Mishosha spoke to her, and looked at him with\nterror. When he had ended she turned to obey him with such haste that\nshe tripped over a root and fell. The magician laughed a cruel laugh\nat the sight of her terror.\n\nWhen the girl had picked herself up she led the way through the bushes,\nPanigwun following her, to where several empty lodges were. Here she\npaused, standing with her eyes cast down, and motioned to him to choose\none. The boy looked about him, and was about to enter the one that\nseemed the most convenient, but the girl caught him by the arm with\nevery sign of terror, and dragged him away from it. Panigwun looked\nat her with surprise, but she again stood with her eyes bent on the\nground, waiting for him to choose.\n\n\"Since you do not wish me to have that one, I will take this,\" said\nPanigwun. He was about to enter another lodge, but again the girl\ncaught him by the arm and dragged him from it. \"Very well,\" said the\nboy impatiently, \"since you will not let me choose for myself you\nshall choose for me. Which shall I take?\"\n\nThe girl motioned him to a smaller lodge that stood a little way off by\nitself. \"I will take that lodge,\" said Panigwun, \"if you will tell me\nwhy you choose it. If you do not tell me I will take one of the larger\nones.\"\n\nThe girl looked about to make sure that no one was near. Then she\nwhispered hurriedly, \"Those are ill-omened lodges. Those who lived in\nthem went out with Mishosha in his canoe and never returned. But none\nhas ever stayed in the smaller lodge. Take it.\" Immediately and without\nanother word, she slipped away and disappeared in the bushes.\n\nPanigwun entered the lodge, threw himself on the ground and began to\nlament. \"Oh, my poor little brother! what will you do now?\" he cried.\n\"How will you live now that I have left you. You have not even the\narrows to shoot game, for I carried them away with me. My poor little\nbrother!\"\n\nHe lay grieving for a long time, until the light faded and the stars\ncame out. Suddenly he felt a light touch on his shoulder, and looking\nup he again saw the girl who had shown him to the lodge standing beside\nhim. She laid her fingers on her lips as a sign for silence, and said\nin a voice as soft as a breath, \"Mishosha is asleep. If we whisper he\nwill not awaken, for the leaves whisper about him all night, and he\nis used to the sound. Down on the beach lies the magic canoe. Take it\nand go to visit your brother. Strike it on the side and say CHEMANN\nPOLL and it will carry you wherever you wish. Only return soon, for if\nMishosha awakens and finds you gone he will suspect me of helping you\nand punish me for it.\"\n\nPanigwun would have thanked the girl, but she had disappeared like a\nshadow in the night.\n\nStealing down to the beach, he stepped into the canoe; he slapped it\non the side and uttered the magic words, and immediately it shot out\nover the dark and silent lake, and did not pause until it ran up on the\nshore from which Panigwun had waded that morning.\n\nPanigwun leaped from it, and hurried up the beach to the lodge and\nlooked in. By the faint starlight he could see his little brother lying\nasleep near the door, the bow clasped tightly in his hand. The older\nbrother would have awakened him, but he remembered what the girl had\nsaid, and feared if his brother saw him he would not have the heart\nto leave him again. Very quietly he placed beside the child the sheaf\nof arrows, and also the food that the magician had sent to his wigwam\nfor his supper. A moment he lingered, and then, as silently as he had\ncome, he returned to the canoe, and soon was speeding back again across\nthe water to the island.\n\nBut in the little while that Panigwun had been away the weather had\nchanged. The sky was overcast, and the first breath of a coming\nstorm ruffled the dark waters of the lake. He sprang from the canoe\nand hastened to his lodge. He had scarcely entered when there was a\nbrilliant flash of lightning, followed almost immediately by a crash of\nthunder.\n\nIn the silence that followed Panigwun heard the sound of feet running\ntoward his lodge, and the next flash of lightning showed him the\nmagician standing in the doorway. His face was drawn and haggard with\nterror. He ran to Panigwun and caught hold of him, and the youth could\nfeel how he was shaking.\n\n\"Oh, my good Panigwun, you are not asleep, are you?\" he cried with\nchattering teeth. \"I could not sleep either. I came to see whether\nyou were comfortable. Let us sit down and talk. I am not afraid--not\nafraid. I have had a curious dream, and I came to talk about dreams.\"\nAgain there came a flash of lightning and a crash of thunder. Mishosha\nfell on the floor and caught the boy by the feet. \"I have never done\nyou any harm! Say I have never done you any harm. It is the storm\nking. He is mightier than I. He is searching for me. Ah!\" A flash of\nlightning brighter than the rest filled the lodge with light. \"Hide me!\nhide me, Panigwun. What I did to-day was only in joke. To-morrow I will\ntake you back to your brother. I always intended to. Only hide me till\nthis terrible storm is past.\"\n\nPanigwun took up a blanket and threw it over Mishosha, and the magician\nrolled himself up in it, and lay shaken and trembling with fear,\ngroaning aloud at each flash of lightning brighter than the rest.\n\nGradually the storm died away; the thunder reverberated more dully\namong the distant hills; the lightning grew fainter; the terror of the\nstorm was over.\n\nMishosha freed himself from the blanket, rose and walked to the door of\nthe lodge. There he stood looking out. \"The storm has passed,\" he said\nin his ordinary voice. \"About dreams, I came to tell you of one I had\nhad, but it grows late. Some other time I will tell it.\"\n\n\"And you will take me back to-morrow to my brother?\" asked the boy.\n\nMishosha laughed harshly. \"We will make no promises to-night. To-morrow\nwe might think them dreams we had dreamed. Another thing I would say.\nBeware how you touch my canoe. And do not have a dream that you can do\nanything on this island without my knowing of it.\" He cast an evil\nglance at Panigwun and strode away through the night toward his own\nlodge.\n\nThe next morning Mishosha said to the boy, \"I am going to an island to\ngather gulls' eggs, and you will go with me.\"\n\n\"But will you not take me to see my little brother first?\"\n\n\"Some other time,\" answered the magician. \"We must make an early start\nif we are to reach the gulls' island.\" He stepped into the canoe and\nPanigwun followed him. \"CHEMANN POLL,\" he cried, and away they sped\nover the water.\n\nThe wooded island dropped out of sight behind them, and another island\nrose to view. This one was bleak and rocky; over it hovered thousands\nof sea gulls, filling the air with their harsh cries. The canoe stopped\nbeside a rocky ledge, and the magician said to the boy, \"Do you go\nashore and gather the gulls' eggs, and I will await you here.\"\n\nFearing no evil, Panigwun stepped out on the rocks. Immediately the\ncanoe slipped out into the deep water. \"Oh, gulls,\" shouted Mishosha\nin a loud voice, \"I have long wished to make you an offering. Take\nthis youth as a gift from me. He will serve as food for you and your\nchildren.\" Then he slapped his canoe upon the side and cried \"CHEMANN\nPOLL.\" The canoe shot away and was lost to sight, and Panigwun was left\nalone on the island.\n\nThe gulls rose and circled about him in a cloud. Their harsh cries\ndeafened him. For a moment he was terrified; then he drew his knife and\ncalled upon his guardian spirit. With one blow he killed the nearest\ngull and hung it from his belt. \"Man is the master of the birds,\" he\ncried aloud. \"Ye are my servants. Take me upon your wings and carry me\nback to where I came from.\"\n\nImmediately the birds settled about him upon the rocks. Panigwun\nstepped upon them, and they rose with him in a dense cloud, and carried\nhim swiftly back to Mishosha's island. As he swept along through the\nsky he looked down and saw the canoe speeding across the lake below him.\n\nWhen the magician reached the island Panigwun was already there and\ncame to meet him. \"You did not wait long enough for me to gather the\ngulls' eggs,\" he said.\n\nMishosha was wonder-struck at finding him safe when he supposed the\ngulls were already feasting upon him.\n\n\"I am so forgetful,\" he stammered. \"I forgot I had left you upon\nthe island. I should have remembered before long, however, and have\nreturned for you.\" Within himself he thought, \"This boy must have a\nvery powerful guardian spirit, but all the same to-morrow he shall not\nescape me.\"\n\nThe next morning he said to Panigwun, \"To-day I am going to take you\nto an island covered with precious stones of all kinds. There you may\ngather all you wish, and this time I will be careful and not forget\nyou.\"\n\n\"Will you not take me to see my little brother to-day?\" asked Panigwun.\n\nThe magician shot an evil glance at him from under his brows. \"Some\nother day,\" he answered. \"To-day we must go to the treasure island.\"\n\nPanigwun followed him into the canoe, and again they sped over the\nwaters of the lake, but this time in a different direction. Soon they\nreached a small island as steep and bare as the back of a fish. Among\nit's rocks lay a quantity of precious stones of all kinds, diamonds,\nemeralds and rubies.\n\n\"Look, my son!\" said the magician. \"Here are all the treasures you\ncould wish. Step out and gather them.\"\n\nPanigwun knew that the magician was planning some evil, but it was\nuseless to disobey him. He landed, and immediately the canoe moved too\nfar away from the shore for him to reach it.\n\n\"Rise, oh, king of the fishes,\" called the magician in a terrible\nvoice. \"I have long been wishing to offer up a victim to you. Here is a\nyouth for you. Accept him as my offering.\" Then he slapped the canoe on\nthe side and disappeared in the direction of the island.\n\nA moment after the waters were disturbed, they broke in waves upon\nthe island, and the head of a gigantic pike appeared. He came on\ntoward Panigwun, his mouth open wide as if to swallow him. The youth\ndid not lose his courage. He called upon his guardian angel, and then\nflourishing his knife he cried, \"Man is the master of the fishes. You\nare my servant. Come here and take me on your back, and carry me to\nMishosha's island.\"\n\nAt this command the pike came closer and floated beside the island.\nPanigwun stepped upon his back and the fish bore him away. So swiftly\nthey went that they out-sped the canoe. When Mishosha reached the beach\nthe youth was already there waiting to help him out. The magician\nlooked at him with surprise and terror. \"You here!\" he muttered. \"I am\nso forgetful; but I would soon have remembered you were on the island\nand have returned for you.\"\n\n\"I thought I would save you the trouble,\" answered Panigwun mockingly.\n\nThe next morning the magician again called Panigwun to go with him in\nhis canoe. \"And this time I will not forget you,\" he promised.\n\nPanigwun gave him a look of scorn but said nothing.\n\nOn and on the canoe bore them over the surface of the lake further than\nthey had ever gone before. At last they came to an island upon which\nstood one stark pine, and far up near the top of it was a nest. \"Look,\nmy son, in that nest the eagles have their eggs. Do you climb up and\nget them for me.\"\n\nStill in silence Panigwun landed and began to climb the tree, but\nbefore he had more than reached the first branches the pine shot up\nto enormous height. Panigwun felt himself being carried further and\nfurther from the earth and toward the sky. From far below he heard the\nmagician's voice: \"Rise, oh, eagles, and take the victim I have brought\nyou. Ye are the king of the birds and it is proper you should receive\nofferings.\" Then, striking his canoe upon its side he shot rapidly away\nover the lake.\n\nTwo enormous eagles rose and circled about Panigwun; their wings beat\nthe air with a sound like thunder and they shrieked fiercely. For a\nmoment the boy closed his eyes, dizzy with the height from the ground\nand the noise; then gathering his courage and commending himself to\nhis guardian spirit, he drew his knife and flourished it.\n\n\"The eagle is the king of birds,\" he cried, \"but man is the king of the\neagles. I am the master and you are the servants. Take me upon your\nwings and carry me to the magician's island.\"\n\nFor a moment the eagles hesitated. Then they drew together so that\ntheir wings crossed. Panigwun stepped upon them, and away they soared,\nso fast that the wind sang past his ears, and they landed at the island\nbefore the canoe had come in sight.\n\nWhen the magician found that Panigwun had returned to the island his\nface grew pale, and his heart quaked within him. \"This boy will prove\ntoo much for me,\" he thought. \"His guardian spirit is very powerful.\nBut my magic shall still conquer him.\"\n\nThe next morning he said to Panigwun, \"To-day I have planned a little\nhunting expedition. We will go together, and when you land I will\naccompany you, that there may be no danger of my forgetting you.\"\nPanigwun looked at him with a scorn he did not try to hide. \"Then you\nwill not take me to see my little brother to-day?\"\n\n\"No,\" answered the magician harshly, and he turned away in the\ndirection of the canoe. The boy followed him, and away they sped\ntogether toward the hunting grounds that Mishosha had chosen.\n\nThey landed and drew up the canoe and started off together. The\nmagician kept looking up toward the sky and muttering to himself. They\nwent on and on until many miles lay behind them, and at nightfall they\nreached a lodge in the midst of a wilderness. \"It is here we spend the\nnight,\" said the magician.\n\nThey made a fire and cooked their supper, and after they had eaten they\ntook off their moccasins and leggings and laid them near the fire.\nThen they rolled them in their blankets and lay down for the night. The\nmagician waited until he was sure from Panigwun's breathing that he was\nasleep. Then he arose very quietly and crept over to where Panigwun had\nleft his moccasins and leggings. He took one of each and threw them in\nthe fire, and then by his magic he caused the weather to turn cold, and\na deep snow to cover the ground. Having done this he rolled himself in\nhis blanket again and fell into a deep sleep. All night the snow fell\nand the wind howled across the plains, heaping the snow in deep drifts.\n\nWhen Panigwun awoke the next morning Mishosha was already up, and was\ntying on his leggings. \"Make haste,\" he said to the boy, \"for it is\nmorning and we have far to travel.\"\n\nThe boy arose and looked for his moccasins and leggings, but he could\nfind only one of each where the night before he had left two. The\nmagician watched him with a malicious look. At length he said, \"Are you\nlooking for your other legging and moccasin? I fear you will not find\nthem. I smelled something burning in the night, and this is the month\nwhen fire draws things into itself.\"\n\nThen Panigwun knew that the magician had burned them. He said nothing,\nbut sat down and drew his hood over his head and communed with his\nguardian spirit. After a time he arose and took a charred piece of\nwood, and blackened his foot and leg with it for as far up as the\nlegging would have covered him. Then he told the magician he was ready.\n\nOutside the cold was bitter. A keen wind drove the sleet into their\nfaces so that they were almost blinded. They stumbled on through the\ndrifts, and every now and then Mishosha looked around expecting to see\nPanigwun overcome with the cold. But his guardian had heard him and\nthe black upon his leg was as warm as though it were his moccasin and\nlegging that he wore.\n\nToward the end of the day the magician in despair led the way back to\nthe canoe. \"This boy's guardian spirit is too powerful,\" he said to\nhimself. \"Nevertheless I will still find some way to destroy him.\"\n\nWhen they reached the island the elder girl could not hide her joy at\nseeing Panigwun had returned. Mishosha looked from one to the other\nsuspiciously, but said nothing. He had begun to fear Panigwun as well\nas to hate him.\n\nThe next morning it was Panigwun's turn. He came early to the\nmagician's lodge. \"Grandfather,\" he said, looking him boldly in the\nface, \"every day I have gone with you without question. Now the time\nhas come when you must redeem your promise and take me to see my little\nbrother.\"\n\nThe magician dared not refuse, so the two entered the canoe and sped\naway toward the mainland. When they landed, Panigwun went up to the\nlodge in advance of the magician. He approached it noiselessly and\nlooked in. The little boy was seated there busily re-feathering one\nof his father's arrows. The crackling of a twig made him look up, and\nthere was the face of his brother looking in. He sprang up with a\nloud cry of joy, scattering the arrows around him. The magician was\nstill far behind, and in a few hurried words Panigwun told the little\nbrother of a plan by which he hoped they might escape from the power of\nMishosha. They then went down to meet the magician.\n\n\"Here is my brother,\" said Panigwun; \"and now we will take him back to\nthe island with us.\"\n\nMishosha cast a glance of hate at the two, but he dared not refuse.\nThey went back to the canoe together, but the magician was slower than\nthe two boys. They reached the beach first and sprang into the canoe.\nPanigwun slapped it upon the side and cried \"CHEMANN POLL.\" Immediately\nthey shot away in the direction of the island, leaving Mishosha behind\nthem.\n\nPanigwun was very proud of his exploit.\n\nAs he drew the canoe upon the shore the girl who had aided him before\nappeared beside him.\n\n\"What have you done, and where is Mishosha?\" she asked. She did not\ndeign to glance at the younger brother, who on his part gazed at her\nwith admiration.\n\nPanigwun told her how he had tricked the magician, and had escaped from\nhim in the magic canoe. Instead of being pleased the girl was filled\nwith terror.\n\n\"You cannot escape from him as easily as that,\" she cried. \"The canoe\nwill not allow itself to be tied, and his power over it is so great\nthat at any moment he can cause it to return to him wherever he may\nbe.\"\n\nWhen Panigwun heard that he sat down by the canoe and laid his hand\nupon it. \"I will hold it,\" he said. \"Then let Mishosha call as he will;\nit shall not slip away.\"\n\nThe girl shook her head doubtfully, but she went away to the lodge and\nreturned with food, that Panigwun might not go hungry while guarding\nthe canoe. All evening he sat there and on into the night, with the\nlittle brother, who would not leave him, by his side.\n\nPresently the little brother fell asleep, and after a while, in spite\nof himself Panigwun began to nod. His hold upon the canoe loosened, and\nat last his head sunk upon his breast, and he too slept heavily.\n\nWhen he awoke it was morning and the magician stood beside him looking\nat him with an evil glance. Panigwun sprang to his feet. \"So you are\nhere, grandfather!\" he cried. \"This island makes one forgetful. I had\nforgotten that we had left you behind us, but to-day I would have\nremembered and would have returned for you.\"\n\nThe magician said nothing, but motioned him to take his brother up to\nthe lodge.\n\nPanigwun thought, \"After all, I need not fear this magician so much. It\nis my turn now, and we will see what I can do.\"\n\nWith this idea he said one morning, \"Grandfather, I enjoyed our last\nhunting expedition so much that I would like to take another.\"\n\nThe magician looked at him suspiciously, but he could not refuse to\ngo. They stepped into the canoe, and soon they were speeding over the\nwaters of the lake toward a distant hunting ground.\n\nWhen they landed, Panigwun took the lead. He led the way back from the\nwater on and on, over plains and through unbroken forests. At night he\nstopped and said, \"Here we will build a shelter, and in the morning we\nwill return.\"\n\nSoon they had woven together some boughs and saplings, and had made a\nfire, and after they had eaten they rolled themselves in their blankets\nand lay down, but this time Panigwun took the precaution of keeping on\nhis moccasins and leggings. In the middle of the night he arose, and\nbent over Mishosha to make sure that he was asleep. When he was certain\nof this he took both of the magician's leggings and moccasins and threw\nthem in the fire. He called upon his guardian spirit to send a deep\nsnow, and then he lay down and went to sleep.\n\nThe magician was awakened the next morning by the piercing cold; he\nshivered in his blanket, and the teeth chattered in his head. He arose\nand looked for his moccasins and leggings. They were not where he had\nleft them, and as he sought for them in vain a terrible fear came upon\nhim. He looked at the boy beseechingly.\n\n\"Are you looking for your leggings and moccasins, grandfather,\" asked\nPanigwun. \"You know this is the month when fire attracts. I very much\nfear they have been drawn into it and burned.\"\n\nThe magician made no answer but his legs failed under him.\n\nPanigwun opened the door. \"Come, grandfather,\" he said. \"It is time for\nus to start.\"\n\nHe stepped out into the cold and Mishosha followed him, dragging his\nfeet heavily. If it had been cold before, it was ten times more so now.\nThe wind cut like a knife, and the sleet was like whips across their\nfaces. Panigwun strode along bravely, and Mishosha stumbled after him,\nshuddering in the wind. Twice he stumbled in the snow, but he struggled\nup again, and still followed. But at last he could go no further. The\ncold seemed to strike from his feet up through all his limbs. His arms\nstiffened to branches; his gray hair turned to blowing boughs. Panigwun\nhearing no longer any sound behind him turned and looked. The magician\nhad disappeared; in his place the boy saw only a stark gray sycamore\ntree, its branches rattling and moaning in the wind.\n\nSo ended the life of Mishosha, the magician of the lake. But Panigwun\nreturned to the island where his brother and the two girls were\nawaiting him. Great was their rejoicing when they heard the magician\nwas dead, and for many years they all lived there happily together.\n\nIn time the two brothers married the girls, and then it was not long\nbefore the voices of children sounded in their lodges. The magic canoe\nstill remained and often it sped to and fro across the waters, bearing\nthe brothers or their families, and still obedient to the magic words,\nCHEMANN POLL.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHAAMDAANEE AND THE WISE GAZELLE\n\n(_From Zanzibar Tales_)\n\n\nTHERE was once upon a time a man named Haamdaanee, who was very poor.\nHe had no clothes but rags, and nothing to eat but the food that was\ngiven him in charity.\n\nOne day when he was searching about in the dust heap for stray grains\nof millet, he found a small piece of money. It seemed a fortune to the\npoor man, and he carefully tied it up in one corner of his rags that he\nmight not lose it.\n\nFor a long time he could not decide what to buy with it, but one day\nwhen he was again scratching in the dust heap, a man came by with a\ncage full of gazelles which he wished to sell.\n\n\"Merchant,\" called Haamdaanee, \"how much do you ask for your gazelles?\"\n\n\"They are different prices,\" answered the merchant. \"Some are very\nlarge and fine, and for those I ask a good price, but one is a\nweakling, and it I would sell for almost nothing.\"\n\nSome men were passing by and they began to laugh. \"Have you come into a\nfortune, Haamdaanee,\" they cried out, \"and are you trying to spend it.\"\nThen they said to the merchant, \"Do not waste your time on that man.\nHe is so poor that he has to scratch about in the dust heaps to find\nenough to keep him alive.\"\n\nHaamdaanee untied the corner of his rags and held out the piece of\nmoney. \"Here, merchant,\" he said, \"take this and give me one of your\ngazelles.\"\n\nThe men were very much surprised to see the money. Then they said, \"You\nare very foolish, Haamdaanee. You get a piece of money nobody knows\nhow nor where, and then instead of buying for yourself a good meal you\nspend it for a gazelle which will also need food.\"\n\nHaamdaanee, however, paid no attention to their jeers. He took the\ngazelle, and the merchant took his money, glad to have sold an animal\nthat was so weak and small it seemed as though it would die at any rate.\n\nHaamdaanee carried the little animal home with him to the hovel where\nhe lived, and made a bed for it in one corner, but there was little he\ncould give it to eat. If there had not been enough for one there was\nstill less for two. However, he was not sorry he had bought it. It was\ncompany for him and he loved it as though it were his daughter.\n\nOne day when Haamdaanee was preparing to go out to the dust heap, the\ngazelle said to him, \"Master, why do you not open the door and let me\nrun out in the forest to find food for myself? If you will do this I\nwill return to you in the evening, and you will only have had one to\nfeed instead of two.\"\n\nHaamdaanee was wonder-struck at hearing the gazelle speaking. \"How is\nthis?\" he cried. \"You can talk, and yet you are only a little animal I\nbought with a piece of money from the dust heap.\"\n\n\"That is true,\" said the gazelle, \"but I am not an ordinary animal. I\nam very wise. Let me out every day so that I may run about, and I may\nfind some way of helping your fortunes. I will always come back to you,\nfor you bought me and you are my master.\"\n\nThe little gazelle spoke so sweetly that Haamdaanee opened the door as\nit wished, and immediately it ran away and into the deep forest, and\nwas lost to sight. Then Haamdaanee was very sad. He thought, \"That was\na foolish thing to do. I will never see my gazelle again, and it was\nsuch a pretty, gentle little thing.\"\n\nHowever, when he returned to his hovel that evening he found the little\nanimal already there. \"Master,\" it said, \"I feasted well in the forest\nto-day, but I saw and heard nothing that would help your fortunes. But\ncourage! To-morrow I will go out again, and who knows what may happen.\"\n\nSo the next morning Haamdaanee again opened the door for the gazelle,\nand after this he let it out every day, and it remained away until\nevening, when it came running home again.\n\nBut one day when the gazelle went into the forest the food it liked was\nvery scarce, and it wandered on further than it had ever gone before.\nAfter a while it began to dig up roots with its sharp little hoofs.\nPresently it struck something hard, and when it turned it out from the\nearth it proved to be an enormous diamond.\n\nThe gazelle was delighted. It rolled the diamond up in leaves and took\nit in its mouth to carry it home to Haamdaanee. But then it began to\nthink. \"What could my master do with a diamond like this? No one would\never believe I had found it in the forest; if he showed it to people\nthey would certainly think he had stolen it, and he would be beaten or\ntaken before the judges. No, I must do something better than that with\nthe stone.\"\n\nThe wise little animal thought for a while, and then with the diamond\nstill in its mouth, it bounded away through the forest.\n\nIt ran on and on for three days and nights without stopping, until it\ncame to a city where a great king lived. This king had a daughter\nwho was so beautiful that the fame of her had spread everywhere; even\nHaamdaanee and his gazelle had heard of her.\n\nThe little animal went straight into the city and through the streets\nto the palace, and up the steps and into the room where the king was\nsitting with all his councilors about him. There it bent its fore knees\nand touched its forehead to the ground three times in token of respect.\n\n\"What is this animal, and where does it come from?\" asked the king.\n\nNo one could tell him anything about it, but the gazelle itself\nanswered.\n\n\"Oh, great king, I am a messenger from my master the Prince Daaraaee,\"\nit said, \"and I have come from far away, a three days and three nights'\njourney through the forest.\"\n\n\"And what is the message your master sends?\" asked the king.\n\n\"He wishes you to give him your beautiful daughter for a wife, and he\nsends you a small gift. It is but a poor thing, and scarce worth the\nsending, but it was as much as I could carry.\"\n\nThe gazelle then unwrapped the leaves from the diamond and presented\nit to the king. All were wonder-struck when they saw the size and\nbrightness of the diamond. It was worth a kingdom.\n\n\"Your master must be very rich and powerful,\" said the king. \"Has he\nmany more jewels like this?\"\n\n\"That is nothing to what he has in his treasure house,\" answered the\ngazelle.\n\n\"And he wishes the hand of my daughter?\"\n\n\"Yes, your majesty.\"\n\nThe king was delighted at the idea of having such a rich man for a\nson-in-law, and promised that Prince Daaraaee should have the hand of\nthe princess.\n\nThe gazelle then made ready to leave, but first the king fed it with\nrice and milk, and hung a golden collar about its neck.\n\n\"In ten days' time I will return with my master. Be ready to receive\nhim and his escort at that time,\" said the gazelle, and then it bounded\naway and was lost to sight in the forest.\n\nNow all this time Haamdaanee had been mourning his gazelle as lost.\nFive days had passed without its returning. The sixth day he was\nsitting very mournfully on the dust heap when he felt something brush\nagainst him. He looked around, and what was his joy to see his little\ngazelle beside him. He stroked and caressed it, and then he saw the\ngolden collar around its neck.\n\n\"What means this golden collar? And where have you been,\" asked\nHaamdaanee.\n\n\"I have been far away at the palace of a king,\" exclaimed the gazelle.\n\"It was he who gave me this collar, and more than that, he promised\nthat you should have his beautiful daughter for a wife.\"\n\nAt first Haamdaanee could not believe what the gazelle told him, but\nwhen he had heard the whole story he was filled with terror. \"You told\nthe king I was a great prince,\" he said, \"and when he sees me in my\nrags and filth I will be beaten and driven out into the forest to die.\"\n\n\"Do not be afraid, master,\" answered the gazelle. \"Only do as I tell\nyou and you will be received with great honor, and have a princess as\nyour wife.\"\n\nAt last he persuaded Haamdaanee to come with him, and they set out\ntogether through the forest. They went on and on until they were within\na day's journey of the king's palace, and then the gazelle stopped.\n\"Master,\" said he, \"do you now strip off your rags and hide them. Bathe\nin the stream, and as you bathe be careful to knock yourself against\nthe stones so that you will show bruises. Then lie down beside the\nstream, and when I return from the city with an escort do nothing but\ngroan and cry, 'Oh, those robbers! Those cruel and wicked robbers.'\"\n\nHaamdaanee stripped off his rags and stepped into the stream, and while\nhe was still bathing and bruising himself the gazelle bounded away to\nthe palace of the king. It rushed into the room where the king was and\nfell before him, breathless and apparently exhausted. \"Oh, my master!\nMy poor master!\" it cried.\n\nThe king in great anxiety asked what had happened to the prince.\n\nThe gazelle told him that he and his master had come a long way through\nthe forest in safety, and were within a day's journey of the city when\nthey had been set upon by robbers. The robbers had stolen everything;\nthey had stripped the Prince Daaraaee of all his magnificent clothes\nand jewels, and had beaten him and left him for dead on the banks of a\nstream. The Prince's escort had been carried away captive. \"And I alone\nescaped,\" said the gazelle, \"for I am so small they did not notice me.\nBut oh, my poor master! If he is not already dead he must soon perish\nunless help is sent to him.\"\n\nThe king immediately commanded that a strong escort should set out to\nhelp the prince. He himself went with them, and a horse was loaded with\nmagnificent robes for Prince Daaraaee to put on. They started out, and\nthe gazelle ran along to show them the way.\n\nWhen they reached the banks of the stream there lay Haamdaanee\ngroaning, and bruised black and blue as though he had been beaten.\nThey raised him up and clothed him in the magnificent robes they had\nbrought, but all he would say was, \"Oh, those robbers! Those cruel,\nwicked robbers!\"\n\nThey put him on a great black horse and took him back to the palace of\nthe king, and when so dressed and mounted he appeared a very handsome\nman indeed. The king was delighted with him, and the princess was no\nless so, and soon the marriage was celebrated with great feasting and\nrejoicing.\n\nFor awhile Haamdaanee lived with his wife at the palace of the king,\nand he was so happy, and everything was so fine, that he could hardly\nbelieve in his good fortune. But after a time the princess began to ask\nher husband when they were to return to his own country. She longed to\nsee his magnificent palace and all the treasures it contained.\n\nHaamdaanee took the gazelle aside and said to it, \"What are we to do\nnow? I am surely ruined. The princess wishes to see the palace I have\ntold her of, and I have no place to take her but the wretched hovel\nthat will not even shelter us from the weather.\"\n\n\"Do not be afraid, master,\" answered the gazelle. \"I will manage\neverything for you. Only let me go, and do you tell the princess you\nhave sent me home to prepare for your reception. I will get a palace\nfor you, and when I have it I will return and let you know.\"\n\nHaamdaanee did as the gazelle bade him. The princess was told that the\nlittle animal was to set out immediately and would put all in order at\nthe palace, so she was willing to wait a while longer before seeing her\nhusband's treasures.\n\nThe gazelle at once started out on its journeyings. It ran on and on\nfor several days, and then it came to another city even handsomer than\nthat of the king, but when it entered the streets everything was silent\nand deserted. There was not a soul to be seen. The little animal went\nthrough one street after another and at last it came to a palace, and\nthat too was silent and deserted. It knocked with its hard hoof, and\nafter a long time the door opened a crack and an old, old woman looked\nout. As soon as she saw the gazelle she seemed frightened to death.\n\n\"How have you come here?\" she cried. \"Do you not know that this city\nbelongs to a terrible snake with three heads, and that he eats every\nliving thing? He has eaten all the people of the city except myself and\nhe only left me alive that I might cook his meals and sweep his house.\nIf he finds you here he will surely kill you.\"\n\n\"I am too tired to go farther,\" said the gazelle, \"and I am so small\nthat I can easily hide in a corner where the snake will not find me. Do\nbut let me in to rest for a while. The snake need never know it.\"\n\nFor a time the old woman refused but the gazelle talked so sweetly\nthat after a time she consented and allowed the little animal to slip\nthrough the crack of the door and into the house.\n\nWhen it was inside it began to look about it. \"This place would just\ndo for my master if I could but get rid of the snake,\" it thought.\nPresently it saw a bright sword that hung on the wall. \"What sword is\nthat?\" it asked of the old woman.\n\n\"It belongs to the snake,\" she answered, \"and it is so sharp that it\nwill cut anything at one stroke.\"\n\n\"That is the sword for me,\" said the gazelle, and it took it down from\nthe wall in spite of all the old woman could say.\n\nAnd now a great rushing noise was heard outside, and the old woman\nbegan to quake and tremble. \"That is the snake,\" she cried, \"and when\nhe finds you here he will surely kill us both.\"\n\n\"Do not be afraid,\" said the gazelle. \"I will tell you what to say and\ndo, and who knows but what we may rid ourselves of him for good and\nall.\"\n\nNow the snake was at the door and it began to sniff about. \"What is\nthis I smell?\" it cried. \"Some living thing has entered the city.\"\n\n\"Nonsense,\" answered the old woman. \"A bird flying over the house\ndropped a piece of meat down the chimney, and I am cooking it for your\ndinner.\"\n\nThen the snake said, \"Open the door that I may come in.\"\n\n\"I cannot do that or the meat will burn,\" answered the old woman. \"Come\nin through the window.\"\n\nThen the snake stuck one of its heads in through the window. The\ngazelle was ready, and the moment the head appeared it cut it off with\nthe sword, and the sword was so very sharp and keen that the snake did\nnot feel the blow. \"How dark it is in the house,\" it said. \"I can see\nnothing,\" and it stuck its other head in. Quick as a flash the gazelle\ncut off that head too. \"Oh! I think a hair fell on my neck,\" said the\nsnake, and it stuck its third head in through the window. Then the\ngazelle cut off that head too, and the snake was dead.\n\nThe old woman rejoiced to know she was now free from the snake, and she\ncould not make enough of the little animal that had killed him.\n\n\"I must go and get my master,\" said the gazelle, \"for now that I have\nkilled the snake, this city and all that is in it belongs to him; and\nif anyone asks you must say, This is the palace of Prince Daardaaee.\"\n\nWhen Haamdaanee heard from the gazelle all that he had done, and how\nthe palace and the treasures of the snake now belonged to him, he did\nnot know what to do with himself for joy.\n\nHe and the princess soon set out together, and with them a number of\npeople from the city, to whom Haamdaanee promised houses and wealth\nwhen they should reach his city.\n\nThe gazelle ran along beside them pointing out the way, and when they\nreached the palace it was more magnificent than anything the princess\nhad dreamed of.\n\nSo they lived there very happily, and the little gazelle had soft\ncushions to lie on, and all the milk and rice that it could eat, so it\ndid not have to run off into the forest any more, but could stay in the\npalace and take its ease.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE TWO SISTERS\n\n(_From the Hindoo Folk Lore_)\n\n\nTHERE was once a rajah who had two daughters who were as beautiful as\ntwo stars, and who loved each other so dearly that they could not bear\nto be apart even for an hour. The ranee who was their mother died, and\nin time the rajah married again, and brought home a new ranee to the\npalace.\n\nThis new wife was very cruel to the two girls. She did not give them\nenough to eat, they had only rags to wear, and sometimes they were\nbeaten. The rajah was so in love with the new ranee that he took no\nnotice of the two girls, nor of how unhappy they were.\n\nOne day the younger princess, whose name was Balna, said to her sister,\n\"Why should we be so unhappy here? Our father no longer loves us, and\nwe are so ill-treated that it would be better to die in the jungle than\nto live in this way. Let us run away.\"\n\nThe elder sister agreed with her, so early one morning they ran away\nfrom the palace, and into the great jungle that lay over beyond it. All\nday they wandered on and on, and that night they climbed up into a tree\nthat they might be safe from wild beasts.\n\nThe next day they journeyed on again, but they had not gone far when\nthey came to a magnificent palace there in the midst of the wilderness.\nThe younger sister wished to knock, but the elder was afraid. \"This\npalace can only belong to a rakshas,\" she said, \"and if he sees us he\nwill surely kill us and eat us.\"\n\n\"As well that,\" answered Balna, \"as for us to die of hunger and\nexhaustion.\" So in spite of all her sister could say she knocked at the\ndoor. There was no answer, and after she had knocked several times she\nopened the door and led the way in.\n\nThey looked about them and were amazed at the magnificence of\neverything they saw. Their father's palace was as nothing compared\nto it. They went into one room after another, and everywhere were\ntreasures of gold and silver and precious stones. While they were\nlooking they heard a terrible noise at the door, and they were so\nfrightened that they ran up to the roof of the house. The roof was\nflat, and from it they could look down into the inner courtyard of the\nhouse, where there were trees and walks, and also a well. The noise the\ngirls had heard was made by a rakshas and his wife, to whom this palace\nbelonged, and who were now coming home. Soon the sisters could hear\nthem moving about in the rooms below and quarreling together. Then a\ndoor opened and they came out into the court. When the sisters saw them\nthey almost died with terror, they were so terrible-looking.\n\nAs soon as they were in the court the rakshas began to run about from\none side to the other and to sniff the air. \"Someone is here,\" he\ncried; \"I smell human flesh and blood.\"\n\n\"I should think you would smell human flesh and blood,\" cried his wife.\n\"You have just killed and eaten a hundred thousand people. It would be\nstrange if you smelled anything else. But I am thirsty. Come here, you\nlazy bones, and draw up some water for me.\"\n\n\"Draw for yourself,\" answered he. \"But let me have a drink first.\"\n\n\"No, no! I shall drink first,\" cried his wife. They both ran to the\nwell, and there they began quarreling again as to who should draw the\nwater.\n\n[Illustration: THERE WERE MANY BEAUTIFUL DRESSES AMONG THE TREASURES OF\nTHE PALACE]\n\nThe two girls on top of the house had been lying as quiet as though\nthey were dead, but now the younger one, who was very clever, said,\n\"Sister, I am going down to see whether I can destroy these rakshas. If\nI do not they will surely come upstairs and find us, and when they do\nthat they will kill us and eat us.\"\n\nThe elder sister begged and implored her not to try to do any such\nthing, but Balna would not listen to her. She hurried downstairs and\nstole out into the court.\n\nThe rakshas were still leaning far over the side of the well, and were\nso busy quarreling that they never noticed her. The clever girl stole\nup behind them and caught each one by a heel and sent them headforemost\ninto the well so that they were drowned. Then she called to her sister\nto come down, for the rakshas were dead and they were safe. The\nelder sister was so glad that she hardly knew what to do. She came down\ninto the court and she could not praise her sister enough for being so\nvery clever as to get rid of the rakshas! Then they hunted about and\nfound plenty of food to eat, and beautiful clothes to put on, for there\nwere many beautiful dresses of silver and gold among the treasures of\nthe palace.\n\nAfter this time the two sisters lived there together very happily.\nEvery morning Balna drove the flocks and herds out to pasture, but\nthe elder girl stayed at home to set the house in order and cook the\nmeals. Balna cautioned her never to open the door to anyone while she\nwas away. \"There may be robbers in this wood who would kill you for the\nsake of the treasures that are here,\" she said, \"or they might carry\nyou away with them because of your beauty.\"\n\nThe elder girl promised her she would not open the door to anyone, and\nso Balna felt quite safe in leaving her every day.\n\nNow a young prince lived not far from this jungle, and very often he\ncame to hunt in it. One day the hunt was fast and furious, and he and\nhis attendants rode farther than they had ever gone before. Suddenly\nthey saw, gleaming through the trees, a beautiful palace.\n\n\"It is very strange,\" said the prince, \"that anyone should have built a\npalace here in the depths of the jungle. Let us knock and see who lives\nin it.\"\n\nHis attendants had never seen the palace before, either, and they\nwarned him that it might belong to a rakshas, and it might be dangerous\nto knock; but the prince would not heed them and began to knock loudly\nupon the door.\n\nThe girl within was frightened at the noise and the voices outside (for\nthis was the very palace where the sisters were living). She kept very\nquiet and hoped whoever was outside would go away.\n\n\"Open the door, you who are inside,\" cried the prince. \"If you do not I\nwill open it myself with my sword.\"\n\nThe girl was more frightened than ever, but as she found he was\ndetermined to enter, she hastily slipped some rags over her magnificent\nclothes and blacked her face and hands so that she might look ugly.\nThen she went to open the door, but she was in such a hurry that she\nforgot to blacken one of her ears.\n\nWhen she appeared the prince was surprised at her looks; it seemed\nstrange that anyone so black and ragged should be living in such a\nmagnificent palace. Then he saw that one of her ears was white, and he\nwas more surprised than ever.\n\nHowever he only said to her, \"I have been hunting and I am very hot and\nthirsty. Will you not give me some water?\"\n\nThe girl shook her head and motioned to him to go away. She would have\nclosed the door, but the prince put his sword in it so that she could\nnot. \"I am thirsty and I must have the water,\" he said.\n\nThe girl ran away to get it but when she brought it to him instead of\ndrinking it he threw it in her face. Then the black all washed off, and\nshe stood there, more beautiful than anyone the prince had ever seen\nbefore. \"Who are you, and how do you happen to be living in this jungle\nall alone?\" he asked. But the girl would not answer. She only shook her\nhead again and wept, for she thought to herself, \"If they mean any harm\nto me and I tell them I have a sister they will wait here until she\nreturns, and she will suffer too.\"\n\nWhen the prince found she would answer nothing he mounted her on his\nhorse and carried her away with him, for she was so very beautiful\nthat he determined to make her his wife.\n\nNow the girl had around her neck a string of pink pearls, and she\nmanaged to break the string without being seen, and to drop the pearls\none at a time as they rode along. For she thought, \"When my sister\ncomes home and finds me gone she will hunt for me, and if she sees the\npearls she will know in which direction I have gone and will follow.\"\n\nSo they rode on and after a time they reached the palace where the\nprince's parents lived. When they saw what a beautiful girl their son\nbrought home with him they were amazed, and because of her great beauty\nthey were willing for the prince to take her for a wife.\n\nThe girl, too, was willing, for the prince was both handsome and kind,\nso they were married, and loved each other tenderly. The girl now\nwould have been quite happy if she had not remembered Balna and grieved\nfor her. Often when she was alone she began to weep for her, and always\nwhen the prince came in he would ask her why she was crying, but she\nwould not tell him. She was afraid if she so did he would be very angry\nthat she had not told him before, and so she made some excuse. Always\nshe thought to herself, \"The next time I will tell him,\" but always she\nwas afraid. Her courage failed her.\n\nNow when Balna returned to the palace and found her sister gone she was\nin despair. She sought for her everywhere, calling her name. Then she\nbegan to hunt about in the jungle for signs of robbers who might have\nbeen there while she was away, and she found one of the pink pearls\nthat she knew belonged to her sister's necklace. She went a little\nfurther and found another, and then another, and still another. So she\nwent on through the jungle, following the way her sister had gone, and\npicking up the pearls as she went.\n\nThat night she came to a stream, and lying beside it was the body of an\nold woman. The body was so dried by the sun that nothing of it was left\nexcept skin and bones. Balna took off the skin and washed it carefully\nin the brook, and then drew it on over her head and arms as if it had\nbeen a glove. When she had done that she looked exactly like an old\nwoman with wrinkled face and arms.\n\nThe next day she came to the edge of the jungle, and she saw before her\nhouses and a magnificent palace with gardens about it. She now took a\nstaff in her hand and began to hobble along as though she were a very\nold woman indeed.\n\nThe pearls led her almost to the palace door, but there they seemed to\nend, and she could see no more, and she did not know where to go next,\nnor what had become of her sister.\n\nShe sat down on the step of a house opposite to the palace, where a\ngardener and his wife lived.\n\nThe gardener's wife was a very charitable woman, and when presently\nshe came to the door and saw the old woman sitting there as though she\nwere too exhausted to go further, she spoke to her kindly and gave her\nsomething to eat. She never imagined what a beautiful young princess\nwas inside of that wrinkled old skin.\n\nBalna thanked her gratefully, and after she had eaten, she sat on the\nstep all day, watching everyone that went past and listening to all\nthey said. She hoped in this way to get some news of her sister, but\nshe heard nothing.\n\nThat night the gardener's wife gave her a place to sleep, and after\nthat Balna lived with her and the woman was very kind to her. All\nday the princess appeared to be an old woman, but at night she went\nto a tank in the palace gardens, and took off the old skin and bathed\nherself in the water. After she had bathed she sat on the edge of the\ntank for awhile, and amused herself by arranging her hair, putting\nin it one of the blossoms of a beautiful pink lotus that grew there,\nand about her neck she hung the necklace of pink pearls which she had\nstrung again.\n\nNow it happened that these pink lotus plants were great favorites with\nthe rajah. He often went to the tank to look at them, and he was much\nannoyed when he found someone was coming there every night and breaking\noff a blossom each time. He had another and younger son, beside the one\nwho had found the girl in the jungle, and when this young prince found\nhow annoyed the rajah was over the loss of his lotuses he said he\nwould watch in the garden all night and see who the thief was.\n\nSo that night he climbed up in a tree that grew beside the tank and\nhid himself among the leaves. He sat there for a long time and all was\nstill. Then when the moon rose he was surprised to see an old, old\nwoman hobble down to the tank and seat herself upon the edge of it. But\nhe was more amazed when this old woman stripped off her skin as though\nit were a glove, and appeared as the most beautiful young girl he had\never seen. She sat there dabbling her feet in the water, and presently\nshe broke off a pink lotus and arranged it in her hair, and drew from\nher bosom a necklace of pearls which she hung about her neck. She sat\nthere for some time, and then she threw away her lotus flower and drew\non the old skin and hobbled away in the direction of the gardener's\nhouse.\n\nThe young prince followed without her having seen him, and waited until\nshe entered the door and closed it behind her. Then he returned to the\npalace.\n\nThe next morning he went to his father the rajah, and said to him, \"I\nhave found who it is who steals your lotus blossoms. It is the old\nwoman who lives with the gardener's wife, and I wish to marry her.\"\n\n\"Marry that ugly old woman!\" cried the rajah. \"You must be mad.\"\n\n\"Unless I marry her I will never marry anyone,\" answered the prince.\n\nThe rajah and ranee were very much distressed, and for a long time they\nrefused their consent, but the young prince grew so pale and ill that\nat last they could refuse no longer, for he was their favorite son. The\nold woman was brought to the palace, and was married to the handsome\nprince.\n\nAfter they were left alone together the prince said to his bride, \"Now\nthat we are married I hope you will take off that old skin and wear it\nno longer. Then my father and mother will see you as you are.\"\n\nBut Balna answered, \"I do not know what you mean. Do you think anyone\ncan take off her skin and become young again at will. As you married me\nso I am.\" For she thought if I remain as I now appear the prince will\nsoon tire of me and allow me to go out in search of my sister, but if\nhe sees me as I am he will never allow me to depart.\n\nThe prince, however, laughed within himself at her words, for he had\nseen for himself how beautiful she really was, but he said no more\nabout it.\n\nAfter this every night when her husband was asleep Balna arose and took\noff her skin to wash it.\n\nThe prince awoke one time when she was just slipping the skin on again,\nbut he said nothing about it, but the next night instead of going to\nsleep he only closed his eyes and lay very still. After a time, when\nshe felt sure he was asleep Balna got up and drew off her skin and laid\nit aside and went to wash herself. Then her husband took the skin and\nthrew it in the fire, and lay down again and closed his eyes.\n\nPresently Balna returned and began to hunt for the skin, but she could\nnot find it any place. After she had hunted a long time the prince\nopened his eyes as though he had just awakened. \"Are you looking for\nthat old skin?\" he asked. \"It fell into the fire and I fear it is\nburned.\" So Balna was obliged to remain as she was, a young and lovely\nprincess.\n\nThe next morning when the rajah and ranee found what a beautiful girl\ntheir son had married under the guise of an old woman, nothing could\nequal their joy. They no longer wondered that the young prince would\nhave no other for his wife.\n\nBut Balna was very sad, she could do nothing but weep and weep. Then\nthe prince too was grieved for her sadness, and asked her why it was.\nShe told him how she had lived in the jungle all alone with her sister,\nand how the sister had been carried away and she knew not where she\nwas. \"It was in search of her,\" she said, \"that I came to your city and\nI will never be happy until I find her.\"\n\nThe prince said, \"I myself can tell you nothing of her, but my older\nbrother married a princess who also lived in the jungle. Let us go to\nher, and ask her if she can tell us anything of your sister.\"\n\nHe took Balna to the apartments where his brother's wife lived, to\nintroduce her. But the moment the two princesses saw each other they\ncried out with joy and ran into each other's arms. Great was the\nsurprise of everyone, and their surprise was greater still when they\nfound these two were sisters who had lost each other.\n\nAfter this they sent into the jungle and brought all the rakshas'\ntreasure to the palace, and the two brothers and their wives lived\ntogether ever after in the greatest happiness.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FEATHER OF THE ZHAR BIRD\n\n(_From the Cossack_)\n\n\nTHERE were once a man and his wife who had one son named Tremsin, and\nthey were all poor together, as poor as could be.\n\nOne day the man said to Tremsin, \"Listen, my son. We have but enough\nmeal left in the house for thy mother and myself, and we can shelter\nthee here no longer. Take the gray steed that stands in the stall and\nride out into the world to seek thy fortune, and my blessing shall go\nwith thee.\"\n\nSo Tremsin took the gray steed from the stall and mounted it, and\nrode out into the green world, seeking his fortune, and his father's\nblessing went with him.\n\nHe rode along and rode along, and afterwhile he came to the wide\nsteppes. He heard a rushing of wings overhead, and a light shone about\nhim, and when he looked up he saw a great bird crossing the heavens. It\nwas pure white and shone like silver, and it flew over him as swift as\nthe wind.\n\n\"Now in all the green earth never did I see such a bird before,\" said\nTremsin. \"I wonder what it may be.\"\n\n\"Master,\" said the gray steed, \"that is the Zhar bird. Presently we\nwill find one of its feathers lying beside our road; but whatever you\ndo, master, do not pick it up, for if you do, evil as well as good will\ncome upon you.\"\n\nTremsin made no answer, but he rode along and rode along, and presently\nhe saw something bright lying beside the road. He came up to it and it\nwas a feather. It was as white as silver, and so bright that no words\ncan tell how it shone.\n\n\"Good or ill, that feather I must have,\" said Tremsin; so in spite of\nthe good steed's warning he picked it up and laid it in his bosom.\n\nAfter awhile they came to a great city and in this city lived a\nnobleman. He was a very rich nobleman, and very powerful.\n\nTremsin rode to his house and asked if he might take service with him.\n\nThe nobleman looked at him up and down and saw that he was a good stout\nlad. \"Why not?\" said he. \"I have need of servants to curry my horses,\nfor I have more than fifty in my stalls.\"\n\nSo Tremsin was set to work in the stables, and the nobleman's own\nfavorite steed was given him to take care of. Every day Tremsin curried\nit and rubbed it down, and after he had rubbed it its coat shone\nlike glass. There never was anything like it. The nobleman was very\nmuch pleased, and made such a favorite of Tremsin that all his fellow\nservants grew jealous. They rubbed and curried their steeds, but they\ncould not make them shine as Tremsin did. Then they set a little stable\nboy to watch Tremsin and see what he did to make the horse's coat so\nbright.\n\nThe stable boy hid in the manger, and after awhile Tremsin came in\nand began to clean the horse. He rubbed it and curried it, but he did\nthat no better than the other grooms. Lastly he looked about him, and\nseeing nobody, he drew from his breast the feather of the Zhar bird and\nstroked the horse with it. Immediately the steed shone like silver, so\nthat all the stall was filled with light. Then he hid the feather in\nhis bosom again, and led the horse out for the nobleman to ride him.\n\nThe little stable boy climbed out of the manger, and ran and told the\nother servants what he had seen, and as soon as they heard about the\nfeather they knew it must be a feather of the Zhar bird. Then they\nwere more envious than ever, and they laid a plot to rid themselves of\nTremsin.\n\nThey went to the nobleman, and said to him, \"Tremsin has a feather of\nthe Zhar bird, and it is so bright that there never was anything like\nit. Moreover, he boasts that if he chose he could go out and catch the\nZhar bird as easily as not, and bring it to you for a present.\"\n\nThe nobleman sent for Tremsin, and said him, \"Your fellow servants tell\nme you have boasted thus and so. Now go you out and get the Zhar bird\nfor me, for I can neither eat nor sleep until I have it.\"\n\nIt was in vain Tremsin swore and protested that never had he said such\na thing. He must go and get the Zhar bird for the nobleman, or have\nhis head cut off from his shoulders.\n\nTremsin went out to the stall where the gray steed stood and wept\nbitterly. \"Yours was a wise warning, my good steed,\" he said. \"Good\ncame to me from the Zhar bird's feather, but now evil has come of it,\nand such evil that I must lose my head for it.\"\n\n\"How is that, my master?\" asked the steed.\n\nThen Tremsin told him all that the nobleman had said, and that as he\ncould by no means bring the Zhar bird to his master he must surely die.\n\n\"There is no need to grieve over such a task as that,\" said the steed.\n\"That is an easy trick. Do you get a strong net and ride me out to the\nsteppe where we first saw the bird. There I will stretch myself out as\nthough I were dead, and you must hide yourself beside me. Presently the\nZhar bird will come and light upon me. Do not stir nor touch it until\nit hops upon my head and is about to peck my eyes. Then throw the net\nover it and you will have it safe.\"\n\nTremsin did as the gray steed bade him. He bought a great strong net\nand then he rode out to the place he had first seen the Zhar bird.\nThere on the lonely steppes the steed laid himself out as though he\nwere dead, and Tremsin hid beside him.\n\nPresently there was a great rushing of wings overhead, and a white\nlight shone and here came the Zhar bird.\n\nHe flew down and lighted on the gray steed's flank but Tremsin did not\nmove. He lighted on the shoulder, but Tremsin never stirred. Lastly he\nwent to the gray steed's head and stooped to peck his eyes. Then, quick\nas a flash, Tremsin threw the net over the bird, and there he had it\nsafe, struggle as it might.\n\nIf Tremsin had been a favorite before it was nothing to the way it was\nnow. The other servants were so jealous that they could hardly bear it.\nThey got together and laid another plot to rid themselves of him. They\nwent to the nobleman and told him: \"Tremsin boasts that it was nothing\nto bring you the Zhar bird as a gift; that if he wished he could bring\nyou the thrice-lovely Nastasia of the sea for a bride just as easily as\nnot.\"\n\nNow the thrice-lovely Nastasia was the most beautiful woman in the\nworld, so that nobody could equal her, and after the nobleman had heard\nwhat they had to say he sent for Tremsin to come to him.\n\n\"Tremsin,\" he said, \"I hear that you have boasted that if you wish you\ncan bring me the thrice-lovely Nastasia of the sea for a bride. Go now\nand bring her to me, for if you do not, as surely as my sword hangs by\nmy side, your head shall leave your shoulders.\"\n\nIt was in vain that Tremsin begged and protested, the nobleman would\nnot listen to him and he went out to the gray steed's stall and wept\nbitterly.\n\n\"Why are you so sad, my master?\" asked the gray steed.\n\n\"I am sad because of the evil the Zhar bird's feather has brought upon\nme. The nobleman has bidden me bring him the thrice-lovely Nastasia for\na bride, and as I cannot do it I must die.\"\n\n\"Do not be troubled over that task,\" said the gray steed. \"There are\nharder things than that in the world, and if you do as I say all may\nyet be well.\"\n\nThe steed then told Tremsin to go into the town and get for himself a\nsnow white tent, and all manner of silken scarfs and gold and silver\nornaments. He was to purchase beside a golden pitcher of rare wine and\na sleeping potion.\n\n\"When you have all these things,\" said the steed, \"take them down to\nthe seashore and spread the tent, and arrange in it all the things you\nhave bought as though you were a merchant. Put the sleeping potion in\nthe golden pitcher of wine, and do you lie down beside the tent as\nthough you were asleep, and whatever you do, do not stir nor open your\neyes until I neigh thrice.\"\n\nTremsin did all that the steed bade him; he bought the tent and the\nwares, the golden pitcher of wine and the sleeping potion, and carried\nthem down to the seashore. He arranged them as a merchant would his\nwares. He put the sleeping potion in the wine, and then he lay down and\npretended to be asleep.\n\nAfter a while the thrice-lovely Nastasia came sailing past in her\nrose-red boat. She saw the shining white tent and landed to see what\nwas in it. When she came to the door of it she saw all the silken\nscarfs and the gold and silver ornaments, and lying by the tent\napparently fast asleep was a handsome youth, with a gray steed standing\nbeside him.\n\n[Illustration: SHE LIFTED IT IN HER HANDS AND TASTED IT]\n\n\"Merchant, merchant, waken and show me your wares,\" said the\nthrice-lovely Nastasia; but Tremsin did not stir.\n\n\"Up, merchant, for I have come to purchase of you.\"\n\nTremsin kept his eyes closed and only breathed the deeper.\n\nThen Nastasia began to go about through the tent and look at the\nthings. She slipped the bracelets on her arms, the rings upon her\nfingers, she wrapped the silken scarfs about her, and presently she\nfound the golden pitcher of wine. She lifted it in her hands and tasted\nit. Then she drank deep of it and presently there was none left. Almost\nimmediately she sank down in a deep sleep.\n\nThen the gray steed neighed three times. \"Up, up, my master,\" he cried.\n\"Yonder lies the thrice-lovely Nastasia. Take her up in your arms\nand mount upon my back, and we will carry her to the house of the\nnobleman before she wakens.\"\n\nThen Tremsin lifted her in his arms and mounted his steed, and away\nthey went, swift as the wind, so that Nastasia's hair flew out behind\nthem like a cloak.\n\nAfter a while they came to the palace of the nobleman, and when he saw\nthat Tremsin had brought him the thrice-lovely Nastasia for a bride he\ncould not do enough for him. There was nothing Tremsin could ask of his\nmaster that he might not have had.\n\nBut the thrice-lovely Nastasia sat in her chamber and wept and wept.\n\"Never will I marry any man,\" she cried, \"until he can bring me my\nshining necklace of pearls that I left at the bottom of the sea.\"\n\nThen the nobleman called Tremsin to him again. \"Tremsin,\" he said,\n\"you must still do something more for me. You have brought me the\nthrice-lovely Nastasia of the sea, but you left her necklace of shining\npearls behind. Go and get it for me, or by the sword that hangs at my\nside, you shall surely die.\"\n\nTremsin went out to the stall of the gray steed and wept bitterly.\n\"Surely the evil that comes to me will never end. I caught the Zhar\nbird in a net, the thrice-lovely Nastasia I brought my master for a\nbride and now I must bring the necklace of pearls from the bottom of\nthe sea or I will lose my head from my shoulders.\"\n\n\"Master, do not let that grieve you,\" said the gray steed. \"Do as I\nbid you and you may get the necklace. Go down to the seashore and hide\nyourself behind the rocks close to where the tent was spread. Presently\nyou will see some crabs crawl up out of the water. Do not stir nor\ntouch them until one comes larger than the rest and wearing a golden\ncrown upon his head. He is the king of them all. Throw your cap over\nhim. Hold it tight and do not let him go until he promises to bring you\nthe pearl necklace of the thrice-lovely Nastasia from the bottom of the\nsea.\"\n\nTremsin was quick to do as the steed bade him. He went down to the\nseashore and hid behind some rocks. There he lay quiet; he hardly\nbreathed.\n\nPresently the crabs began to crawl up out of the water. They came one\nafter another. Tremsin had never seen so many. Last of all came a crab\nlarger than any of the rest, and on his head he wore a golden crown.\nTremsin waited until this one came close by the rocks, and then, quick\nas a flash he threw his cap over it, and held it tight.\n\nThe crab struggled but it could not get free.\n\n\"Let me go, Tremsin,\" it cried, \"and I will bring you such treasures\nthat you will be a rich man forever.\"\n\n\"I will not let you go,\" said Tremsin, \"until you promise to bring me\nthe pearl necklace of the thrice-lovely Nastasia from the bottom of the\nsea.\"\n\nWell, the crab did not want to promise, but there was nothing else for\nit. He had to say he would do it, and then Tremsin lifted his cap and\nlet him go.\n\nThe crab sidled off and disappeared in the water and he was gone three\nhours. When he came back he held the necklace in his claws.\n\nTremsin took the necklace and thanked him, and hurried away to the\npalace of the nobleman.\n\nWhen his master saw that he had brought the pearl necklace he could not\ndo enough to show his gratitude.\n\nBut the thrice-lovely Nastasia sat in her chamber, and would do nothing\nbut weep and weep.\n\n\"I will never marry any man,\" she said, \"until I can ride to the\nchurch on my own fierce wild charger of the sea.\"\n\nWell, there was nothing else for it; the nobleman sent for Tremsin\nagain. \"This one more thing you must do for me,\" he said. \"You must\nbring me the thrice-lovely Nastasia's wild fierce charger from the sea.\nBring me that and I will make you rich for all your life, but fail and\nyour head shall surely be parted from your shoulders.\"\n\nOut went Tremsin to the gray steed's stall.\n\n\"This is the last,\" he said. \"If I can do thus and so I will be a rich\nman for life, but if I cannot I must surely die.\"\n\n\"Master,\" said the gray steed, \"this is the hardest task that has been\nset you yet. Whether we can bring that fierce, wild charger from the\nsea I do not know. We can but try, but there is great danger in it.\"\n\nThen the gray steed bade Tremsin go to the town and buy twenty hides,\ntwenty poods of tar and twenty poods of horse-hair. \"Load them upon my\nback,\" he said, \"and drive me down to the seashore.\"\n\nTremsin went to the town and bought the twenty hides; he bought the\ntwenty poods of tar and the twenty poods of horse-hair. He loaded them\non the gray horse and drove him down to the sea.\n\n\"Master,\" said the gray steed, \"do now exactly as I bid you, for if\nyou do not I will surely perish. First of all, lay one of the hides\nupon me and bind it so it will not possibly come off. Over this spread\na pood of tar, and fasten upon it another hide. Then another pood of\ntar and another hide, and so on until all have been used. Then I will\nplunge into the ocean, and as soon as the fierce strong charger of the\nthrice-lovely Nastasia sees me he will come at me and try to tear me to\npieces, but if all goes well the hides will protect me. I will swim to\nthe shore and he will follow me, and as soon as he comes out from the\nwater do you be standing ready and strike him upon the head with the\ntwenty poods of horse-hair. Immediately he will become so gentle that\nyou may easily mount and ride him, but if you fail in any one of these\nthings I will be torn to pieces, and you with me.\"\n\nTremsin promised to obey the gray steed in everything. He fastened the\nhides upon the horse's back with the tar, just as he had been directed\nto do, and when it was all finished the gray steed plunged into the\nsea. Tremsin stood at the edge of the shore holding the twenty poods of\nhorse-hair ready in his hands.\n\nPresently all the surface of the sea became disturbed. It was churned\ninto foam; great waves arose. There was a sound of neighing, and\nTremsin knew the gray steed and the fierce wild charger of Nastasia\nwere fighting terribly. The wild charger would soon have torn the gray\nsteed to pieces, but he could not get at him on account of the hides.\n\nPresently the horse of Tremsin swam to the shore, and it was so\nexhausted it could hardly drag itself from the water. The fierce wild\ncharger was close after it, still biting and tearing, and it had torn\nall the hides from the gray steed but one. But Tremsin was ready. He\nswung the twenty poods of horse-hair on high and struck the charger\nwith it.\n\nImmediately the charger became perfectly gentle and quiet. It stood\ntrembling, and the sweat poured from its sides like water. Tremsin\nmounted on its back and rode away to the house of the nobleman, and it\nwas so gentle that he had no need of either bit or bridle.\n\nWhen the nobleman saw him coming on the charger he was so delighted\nthat he called him brother, and said that the half of all he had should\nbe his.\n\nNow the thrice-lovely Nastasia could find no excuse for putting off her\nmarriage with the nobleman. He had restored to her her pearl necklace;\nher fierce wild charger had been brought to her from the sea. One last\nrequest she made, however, and then she would marry him.\n\n\"Have filled, I pray you,\" she said, \"three large vats. Let the first\nbe filled with cold milk, the second with warm milk, and the third with\nmilk that is boiling hot.\"\n\nThe nobleman could refuse her nothing, so he had the vats prepared as\nshe wished, the first with cold milk, the second with warm, the third\nwith milk that was boiling.\n\nWhen all was ready the thrice-lovely Nastasia stepped into the first\nvat, and when she came out she had changed to an old, old woman. She\nstepped into the second vat, and she became a blooming young girl. She\nstepped into the third vat, and when she came out from that she was the\nmost beautiful woman that ever was seen. She shone like the moon, and\nall the people could look at no one else.\n\nWhen Tremsin saw that, he too stepped into the first vat, and came out\nan old man. He stepped into the second vat and became young again. He\nstepped into the third vat and when he came out from that he was the\nhandsomest youth in all the world. There never was anything like it, he\nwas so handsome.\n\nBut the nobleman was filled with envy and jealousy, and he too wished\nto become the handsomest man in all the world. However, he was not\nwilling to step into the first vat, for he did not wish to become an\nold man; he saw no reason for stepping into the second vat, for he was\nalready young. He sprang straight into the third vat, and immediately\nthe boiling milk scalded him to death, and he never came out again.\n\nBut Tremsin married the thrice-lovely Nastasia of the sea, and they\nwere the handsomest couple that ever were seen, so that people have not\ndone talking of them even yet.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE BEAUTIFUL MARIA DI LEGNO\n\n(_From the Roman Tales_)\n\n\nTHERE was once a merchant who was so rich that no king could be richer.\nHe and his wife had one daughter named Maria di Legno, and she was as\ndear to them as the apple of the eye. Now about the time when Maria was\nold enough to think of getting married, the merchant's wife fell ill,\nand feeling herself about to die she called her husband to her.\n\n\"My dear husband,\" she said, \"I feel that I am near to death and it\ntroubles me greatly to know that Maria is about to lose a mother's\ncare. She is so beautiful and will be such an heiress that she will\nhave many suitors. Promise me that she shall marry no one but the man\nwhose finger fits this ring.\" She then took from her neck a little\nchain to which a ring was fastened, and laid it in her husband's hand.\n\nHer husband could refuse her nothing. He gave her his word that it\nshould be as she wished, and very soon afterward his wife died.\n\nIt was not long before the suitors began to come from far and near to\nask for the hand of Maria di Legno in marriage. Some of them were very\nrich and powerful, and the merchant would have been very glad to have\none of them for a son-in-law, but no man among them could wear the\nring. For one it was too small, for another too large, and so they\nwere all obliged to go away again with \"no\" for the answer. It seemed\nas though the beautiful Maria would never be married at this rate, and\nthe merchant began to repent him of his promise to his dead wife.\n\nAt last came a suitor richer and handsomer than any of the others.\nHe said he was a prince, and he brought with him a long train of\nattendants, and gifts of great magnificence. The merchant took such a\nfancy to him that he felt that this was the man whom he would choose\nout of all the world for his daughter to marry.\n\nMaria, however, was very unhappy, for she could feel nothing but fear\nand dislike for the stranger.\n\nThe prince was very courteous to every one, and smiling and anxious to\nplease; that was at first. But when he was told that before he could\nhave Maria for a wife he must try on a certain ring and see if it\nfitted him, and that all depended upon that, he became very angry.\n\n\"This is a silly thing to ask of me,\" he said. \"Is it not enough that I\nam rich and young and that I please you? I am not a child that I should\nplay such a silly game as that.\"\n\nHe was so angry that it seemed at first as though he would ride away\nwithout even looking at the ring. However, after he had had a day to\nthink it over he appeared as smiling and cheerful as ever, and seemed\nquite willing to submit to the test.\n\n\"After all, it was her mother's last wish,\" said he; \"and besides that,\nI shall be very glad to prove to you beyond a doubt that I am the one\nout of all the world who ought to marry the beautiful Maria, for I am\nsure the ring will fit me.\"\n\nOverjoyed, the merchant sent for the casket in which the ring was kept,\nbut when he opened the lid what was his dismay to find that the ring\nwas gone. And now he did not know what to do. He had promised his dead\nwife that Maria should not marry anyone who could not wear the ring,\nand now if it was lost it seemed she would never be able to marry\nanyone at all.\n\nBut when the prince found the merchant was reasoning in this way he\nflew into a fine rage. \"What are you thinking of!\" he cried. \"First\nyou tell me you will give me your daughter for a wife if I can wear a\ncertain ring, and then when I am willing to stand the test, you tell me\nthe ring can not be found. Is this a trick you are playing upon me? If\nit is it shall cost you dear.\"\n\nThe merchant tried to excuse himself, but the stranger would listen to\nnothing.\n\n\"Because you are so careless as to lose the ring, is that any reason\nyour daughter should remain unmarried all her life?\" he asked.\n\n\"Set me three tasks to perform, no matter how difficult. If I fail\nin any one of them I will ride away with no ill-feeling, and leave\nher to some more fortunate suitor; but if I perform them all to her\nsatisfaction then I shall have her for a bride.\"\n\nThis seemed to the merchant only a fair and just proposal, and as he\nwas very anxious for his daughter to marry the prince, he agreed to\nit. But when Maria heard all this she was in despair. She had depended\nupon the ring to protect her, for she did not believe it would fit the\nstranger, but now that it was gone she feared her father would force\nher into the marriage in spite of herself.\n\nIn her grief and dismay she bethought her of her godmother who was an\nold fairy and who lived in a forest over beyond the town. This fairy\nwas very wise, and Maria knew that if anyone could help her in her\ntrouble she could. So that evening she wrapped herself in a dark cloak\nso that no one should know her, and stole out of the palace and away\nto where the fairy lived.\n\nShe found her godmother at home, and after Maria bid her good evening,\nand presented to her some little cream cakes that she had brought with\nher as a gift, she began to tell her story. She told the fairy all\nabout her suitor, and how she feared and detested him, and how, unless\nshe could think of some task that he would be unable to perform, she\nwould certainly be obliged to marry him.\n\nThe fairy listened attentively, and after Maria had ended, she sat\nsilent for quite a while, thinking. At last she began, \"Maria di Legno,\nthis is a very difficult matter. You do well to fear this stranger, for\nhe is a very wicked and a very powerful magician. He is indeed far more\npowerful than I, so that I can do nothing against him, and I fear that\nyou will be obliged to marry him. Still, everything that I can do to\nhelp you I will, and you must follow my advice exactly. To-morrow this\nevil one will come to inquire what is the first task that you wish him\nto perform. Try to appear smiling and cheerful, and ask him to bring\nyou as a gift a dress woven of the stars of heaven. This will be a very\ndifficult thing for him to get, and if he fails to bring it to you he\ncan no longer insist on your marrying him.\"\n\nMaria was more frightened than ever when she heard that her suitor was\na wicked magician, and she promised to follow in every respect the\nadvice that had been given her. Then she drew her hood over her head\nand made her way home again, and so well had she managed that no one\nthere had any idea she had been away at all.\n\nThe next day when the suitor came to visit her he was delighted to find\nher cheerful and smiling as though she were no longer averse to him.\n\n\"Have you thought of what my first task shall be?\" he asked.\n\n\"Yes,\" said Maria. \"I wish you to bring me a dress woven of the stars\nof heaven.\"\n\nAs soon as the magician heard that, his brow grew black, and he gave\nher a suspicious look. \"Someone must have told you to ask for that,\" he\nsaid. \"You never would have thought of it yourself.\"\n\nBut he had agreed to do whatever she might ask of him, and he could not\nvery well make any objections to this. He asked, however, to be allowed\nthree days in which to procure the dress, and to this the merchant\nagreed.\n\nFor three days the stranger disappeared, and no one knew what had\nbecome of him, but when at the end of that time, he reappeared, he\nbrought the dress with him. It was made entirely of the stars of heaven\nas Maria had demanded, and was so beautiful and shining that it was a\njoy to the eyes to see it.\n\nMaria was dismayed to find he had so easily performed this first task,\nbut she dissembled and tried to appear delighted with the gift; but she\ntook the first opportunity she could find to steal away to the forest\nto visit her godmother. She told the fairy that her suitor had been\nable to perform the first task, and bring her the dress of stars, and\nwhen the fairy heard this she looked very grave.\n\n\"This is a bad business,\" said she. \"Still there are two more tasks\nthat you are to set him, and for the next one tell him he must bring\nyou a dress woven entirely of moonbeams. This will be even more\ndifficult for him to procure than the other, and it may be that he will\nfail to get it.\"\n\nMaria promised to do as the fairy advised her, and then stole back to\nher home again.\n\nThe next day the suitor came to visit her again, and he looked as happy\nas though the marriage day were already set.\n\n\"What is the next task that I am to perform?\" he asked. \"You see\nhowever difficult the thing is I am not only willing but able to\nperform it.\"\n\n\"I would like,\" said Maria di Legno, \"a dress woven entirely of\nmoonbeams.\"\n\nAs soon as the magician heard that his look changed, and he cast upon\nher a terrible glance.\n\n\"Someone has told you to ask for that,\" he cried. \"However, you shall\nhave it, but you must give me three days in which to procure it, as you\ndid before.\"\n\nMaria would have refused this if she dared, but her father was very\nwilling to allow it. For three days the magician disappeared, but at\nthe end of that time he came again, and now it was a dress of woven\nmoonbeams that he brought with him. If the other dress was beautiful\nthis was ten times more so. The eyes could hardly bear to look at it,\nit was so bright.\n\nMaria tried to pretend she was delighted, but as soon as she could she\nstole away to see her fairy godmother once more, and to tell her how\nthe second trial had come out.\n\nThe fairy listened and shook her head. \"My poor child, I fear this\nmarriage must be. Still there is one more task you may set him, and\nthis time tell him to bring you a dress woven entirely of sunbeams.\nThis will be far more difficult for him to procure than either of the\nothers, but if he should succeed in doing it there is no help for it,\nyou will be obliged to marry him.\"\n\nAs soon as Maria heard this she burst into tears, but her godmother\ncomforted her. \"Listen,\" said she, \"even though I cannot preserve you\nfrom this marriage, I may be able to save you in the end. As soon as\nthe wedding is over the magician will take you away in a coach to\ncarry you to his own country. Upon his head he will wear a velvet cap,\nand in this cap a long feather. Look well at the feather, for slipped\nover it is the magic ring. It is he who stole it from the casket, for\nhe knew it would not fit him, and he feared to stand the test. After\nyou are married to him, however, he will no longer be afraid to let you\nsee he has it. You must manage in some way to get this ring from him,\nfor if you succeed in escaping finally you will have need of it. And\nnow listen further to what you must do.\" The fairy then told Maria that\nshe would make a hollow wooden figure of an old woman for her. This she\nwould hide in a certain spot in the forest near to which the magician's\ncoach must pass. Just before they reached this place, Maria must make\nsome excuse to leave the coach, and must hide herself in the wooden\nfigure. She might then safely walk wherever she wished to go, for even\nif the magician met her he would certainly never guess that the figure\nof that ugly old woman contained his bride.\n\nMaria thanked the fairy with tears of gratitude, and hastened home, and\nthis time, too, nobody guessed that she had been away.\n\nSoon the magician came to ask her what she would set him as a third\ntask.\n\n\"I wish you to bring me another dress,\" said Maria, \"and this time it\nis to be made entirely of sunbeams.\"\n\nWhen the magician heard this the blood rushed to his face, and his eyes\nbecame like hot coals.\n\n\"You are not the one who thought of this,\" he cried. \"You shall have\nit, but if I did but know who was back of this wish of yours he should\nsuffer for it, whoever he is.\"\n\nMaria was left trembling with fear, and for three days the magician was\nnot seen by anyone. At the end of that time he reappeared, and this\ntime it was the dress of sunbeams that he had brought back with him. If\nthe others had been beautiful this was far beyond them, and it was so\nbright that the pages who carried it could hardly bear the light of it\nin their eyes.\n\nAnd now Maria could make no further delay, she must marry the prince\nwhether or no. A magnificent wedding was prepared for, and although\nMaria was very sad she looked so beautiful that the magician could\nhardly control his joy at the thought that he was to have her for a\nwife.\n\nImmediately after they were married they entered a coach drawn by six\ncoal-black horses and drove away toward the forest, for that was the\ndirection in which lay the magician's country.\n\nThey rode along, and rode along, but all the while the bride kept\nlooking out of the window instead of at her bridegroom.\n\n\"What are you looking at?\" he asked at last, quite out of patience with\nher.\n\n\"I am looking at the beautiful flowers along the way. Do stop and\ngather some for me, and I will make a wreath for my hair, and another\nfor your cap.\"\n\nThe magician was very anxious to please her, so he alighted immediately\nand gave his cap into the hands of Maria di Legno, and began to gather\nflowers for her along the way. She made a wreath for her hair and\nanother for his cap, but before she handed it back to him she managed,\nwithout its being noticed, to slip the ring from the feather and hide\nit in her pocket.\n\nThen they rode on again, and by the time they were well in the forest\nit was growing dark. Hundreds of fireflies flickered about among the\ntrees, and Maria exclaimed how bright they were. Finally one passed\nso much larger and brighter than any of the others that it was like\na star. \"Look! look!\" cried Maria. \"How beautiful that is. My dear\nhusband, I do beg and entreat of you to catch that one for me if you\ncan.\"\n\nAgain the prince, anxious to please her, stopped the coach, and\nalighting, ran away among the trees in pursuit of the firefly.\n\nNo sooner was he out of sight than Maria, too, sprang to the ground,\nand hastened to the spot where the fairy had told her she would find\nthe wooden figure. She quickly discovered it behind some bushes, and\nopened the little hinged door in its back. The moment this was opened\na soft light shone through the forest, for the fairy had put Maria's\nthree beautiful dresses inside the figure, and they shone so that\neverything around was lighted up. The figure was hollowed out in such a\nway that there was room inside it for Maria and the dresses too.\n\nMaria stepped inside and closed the door and immediately the forest\ngrew dark again. Then she arranged a shawl about the figure so that the\ndoor would not show, took a staff in her hand and hobbled away through\nthe forest, for the figure was made in such a way that it would move\nalmost as easily as a real body.\n\nAll this time the magician had been pursuing the firefly. It led him\nthis way and that but always away from the coach. It did not fly fast,\nand several times he thought he had it, but it always slipped through\nhis fingers. The fact was the firefly was really the fairy who had\ntaken this shape in order to lure him away through the forest and give\nMaria a chance to escape.\n\nSuddenly a soft light shone through the forest and then died away. By\nthat the fairy knew that Maria had found the figure and had stepped\ninside and closed the door. Then the firefly disappeared altogether,\nleaving the magician there alone in the darkness.\n\nHe made his way back to the coach in a very bad humor. \"I could not\ncatch the firefly,\" said he in a gruff voice; \"I only succeeded in\nbruising myself against the trees.\" There was no answer. \"Do you not\nhear?\" cried he angrily. \"I tell you I am black and blue with bruises,\nand all because you were silly enough to want a firefly.\" Still there\nwas no answer, and the magician looked inside the coach. No one was\nthere. Then he understood that he had been tricked, and he was in a\nfine rage. He ran about through the forest like a wild thing, peering\nand searching for his lost bride, and it would have been an ill\nthing for her if he had found her then. At last he came upon an old\nwoman hobbling along with a staff in her hand, and a shawl about her\nshoulders.\n\n\"Tell me, old woman,\" he cried, \"have you seen a beautiful young girl\nanywhere in the forest? A beautiful young girl dressed as a bride?\"\n\n\"I have seen no one but you,\" mumbled the old crone. \"Not a living soul\nbut you,\" and she hobbled on still mumbling to herself.\n\nThe magician did not waste another glance upon her, for he never\ndreamed the beautiful young Maria was hidden inside that ugly old\nfigure, but she was almost dead with fear lest he should guess it. He\nwas filled with rage and despair, and rushing back to the coach he\nthrew himself into it and was driven away like mad, and that was the\nlast of him as far as Maria was concerned.\n\nAll that night Maria hobbled on, but toward morning she was so tired\nthat she lay down under a tree and went to sleep. She had no fear, for\nrobbers would never disturb one who looked as old and poor as she, and\nas for wild animals she was protected from them by the wooden figure in\nwhich she lay.\n\nShe slept then quietly for quite a while, but in the early morning\nshe was awakened by the barking of dogs, and the sound of a horn. The\nprince of that country had come into the forest to hunt, and he and all\nhis retinue were riding in her direction at full speed.\n\nShe struggled to her feet, but she was hardly up before the dogs burst\nthrough the bushes and threw her to the ground again. And now came\nthe horses and riders; the young prince had almost ridden over Maria\nbefore he saw her and could stop his horse. However he managed to draw\nrein before she was touched, and then he said to his attendants, \"Look\nat this poor old woman. Either the dogs have hurt her or else she has\nfainted from fear.\" And indeed Maria was so frightened that she could\nneither move nor speak.\n\nThe prince was very tender-hearted. He caused his attendants to lift\nher up and put her on the saddle in front of him. \"There, there,\nmother,\" said he; \"I believe you are more frightened than hurt. Tell me\nwhere you live and I will take you home, for you do not seem able to\nwalk.\"\n\n\"Alas! I have no home to go to,\" answered Maria in a sorrowful voice.\n\n\"So old, and homeless, too,\" cried the prince. \"If that is the case\nI will even carry you back with me to the palace, for you cannot be\nleft here to die. There must be some work that you can do there in the\nkitchen or scullery, and you will at least be sure of food and shelter.\"\n\nMaria was only too thankful to be taken with him, for she did not dare\nto brave her father's anger by returning to his house, and there seemed\nno other place for her to go. The prince still kept her on his horse\nin front of him, and rode back with her to the palace, and there she\nwas handed over to the servants. They were ill-pleased enough to see\nher, too.\n\n\"Why is an old crone like this brought here,\" they muttered among\nthemselves. \"She is too old to work, and yet we will have to share what\nlittle we have with her.\"\n\n\"Never mind,\" said the steward. \"It is the prince's pleasure that\nshe should remain here, and we will find something for her to do. If\nnothing better she can help the scullery maid with the pots and pans.\"\n\nSo the beautiful Maria di Legno became the servant of servants, and\ncleaned pots and pans, and was scolded and sent upon errands. Sometimes\nthe maids even struck her, but this they soon learned not to do, for it\nhurt their hands. \"You are a very strange old woman,\" they would say.\n\"In spite of your age your flesh is so hard that bone itself could not\nbe harder.\"\n\nNow after Maria had been at the palace for a few months the time of the\ncarnival came round. The carnival was to be more magnificent this year\nthan ever before, for the parents of the prince were anxious for him to\nchoose a bride, and it might be that his choice would fall upon someone\namong the noble guests. Queens and princesses and ladies of rank came\nfrom far and near, and such magnificent clothes were hardly ever seen\nbefore. The prince was courteous to them all, but he did not seem to\ndistinguish anyone above the others.\n\nFor the last three days of this carnival anyone was allowed to appear\nat it, even the palace servants if they chose. They did choose, and so\nwhen the first of these three days arrived there was a great stir and\nbustling and running to and fro in the kitchen. No one had any thought\nfor the old woman who helped the scullery wench, and so no one noticed\nwhen she stole away by herself to the miserable loft where she slept.\nShe took with her a jug of hot water, and after she had fastened the\ndoor and made sure she was alone she opened the figure and stepped out.\nFirst she washed herself and arranged her beautiful hair. Then she drew\nfrom the figure the dress of stars, and after she had put it on she was\nthe most beautiful creature that was ever seen.\n\nThe ball was at its height when she appeared, and many beautiful ladies\nwere there in silks and jewels, but Maria far outshone them all.\nEveryone stared and whispered, but she was at once so beautiful and so\nstately that no one dared to approach or question her. Only the prince\nfelt privileged, by his high rank to speak to her and ask her hand for\nthe dance.\n\nWhen she answered him her voice was so soft, and her glance so modest,\nthat the prince's heart went out to her, and he could think of no one\nelse. When they danced together everyone said that such a handsome\ncouple had never been seen before.\n\nBefore the ball ended Maria found an opportunity to slip away unseen.\nHastening to her room she took off her beautiful dress and packed it\naway inside the figure. Then entering into it herself she closed it up\nand lay down to sleep.\n\nThe next day there was no talk all through the palace except about the\nbeautiful stranger who had appeared at the ball the night before. Some\nthought she must be a fairy, and others that she was some great queen\nwho had managed to arrive there unannounced; all were anxious to know\nwhether she would reappear at the ball that evening.\n\nThe prince was not the least anxious person in the palace. He thought\nof his beautiful partner all day, and longed so to see her that he\ncould neither eat nor rest.\n\nThat night the ball was again at its height before Maria di Legno\narrived. She was clothed this time in her dress of moonbeams, and was\nso beautiful that when she entered there was a general sigh of wonder.\n\nThe prince who had been watching the door with impatience hurried to\nher side immediately and claimed her hand for the dance. That evening\nhe tried in every way to find out who she was, but always she put him\noff with a smile and a word, and that night she managed to slip away,\nunperceived as before.\n\nThe last night of the carnival arrived, and with it appeared the\nbeautiful Maria di Legno. This time she wore her dress made of\nsunlight, and was beautiful and bright beyond all words, so that the\nprince was beside himself with admiration. Again he begged her to tell\nhim who she was and whence she came, but she would not. One thing\nhowever gave the prince some hope that she did not mean to forsake him\nentirely when the carnival should be over. She drew from her bosom a\nring, and begged him to try it on, telling him that no one, so far, had\never been able to wear it. The prince slipped it on, and it fitted his\nfinger exactly; it could not have fitted better if it had been made for\nhim. Then the eyes of the beautiful stranger shone with joy, but she\ntook the ring again and hid it in the bosom of her dress.\n\nMaria meant to slip away unperceived this night as she had the two\nnights before, but the prince had determined that this should not\nbe. He had told the palace guards to be on the watch, and not to let\nher escape without following her. He himself scarcely left her for a\nmoment. However, toward the end of the evening he was obliged to turn\naway to acknowledge the greeting of some nobleman, and when he looked\naround again she was gone. She had slipped away the moment he had\nturned his head, and had hastened into a long gallery that seemed to\nbe deserted, but looking behind she saw that the guards were following\nher. She hurried on but soon she found they did not mean to lose sight\nof her, and now she was almost in despair.\n\nAbout her neck she wore a necklace of pearls which her father had given\nher, and as a last hope she broke the cord that held them and scattered\nthem on the floor. When the guards saw the pearls rolling this way and\nthat beneath their feet they could not resist stooping to pick them up\nand while they were doing this Maria managed to escape them and reach\nher room in safety. She quickly hid her shining dress and shut herself\nin the figure and then threw herself down on her hard and narrow bed to\nsleep. The next morning when the sleepy servants were busy with their\nwork there was the old woman scrubbing pots and pans in the scullery as\nusual, and no one could possibly have dreamed that she was the beauty\nof the night before.\n\nAs for the young prince, when he found the beautiful stranger had\ndisappeared and left no trace behind her he was so filled with grief\nand disappointment that he fell desperately ill. Doctors came from far\nand near to attend him, but they could do nothing for him. He remained\nsunk in melancholy, and at last the queen mother began to fear that\nunless some remedy was found he would die from sorrow.\n\nAll this was talked about in the kitchen, and when Maria heard how the\nprince was pining away for love of the beautiful stranger she made up\nher mind that it was time for her to make herself known. Therefore one\nday when the other servants were not looking she made a little cake,\nand in it she hid the magic ring that the prince had tried upon his\nfinger that last night of the carnival. Then she caused word to be\ncarried to the queen mother's ears that it was said by an old woman in\nthe kitchen that she could cure the prince if they would only let her\ntry.\n\nAt first the queen mother paid no attention to this talk but as day\nafter day passed and her son grew no better, in despair she sent for\nthe old woman to come to her.\n\nMaria put the little cake upon a golden plate, and carrying it in her\nhand went to attend the queen.\n\nShe found her majesty seated in a room with all her attendants around\nher, and as soon as she entered the queen began: \"Old woman, it has\nbeen brought to my ears that you have said you can cure the prince. Is\nthis true?\"\n\n\"Yes, your majesty,\" answered Maria. \"It certainly is true that I said\nit, and it is also true that I and I alone can do it.\"\n\n\"That is a brave boast for you to make,\" said the queen. \"And what\nwould you advise us to do for him?\"\n\n\"Here is a cake which I have made myself,\" said Maria, \"and in it is\nsomething which will surely cure him. That is, it will cure him if he\neats the whole of the cake. If however even the smallest portion is\nthrown away all its virtue will be lost, and it will do him harm rather\nthan good.\" This she said because she was afraid that if a part of the\ncake were thrown away the ring might be in it.\n\nWhen the attendants heard the old woman say all this so gravely they\nbegan to laugh, for it sounded very silly. The queen mother however\nrebuked them and bade them be silent. \"These old women,\" she said,\n\"often know remedies that are unknown to the doctors. There may really\nbe some virtue in this cake that will restore our son if he will but\neat it.\"\n\nShe then bade the old woman leave the cake and presently she carried it\nin to the prince with her own hands.\n\nShe found him stretched on a couch before the window, gazing out at the\nsky with a melancholy air. She sat down by his side and asked him how\nhe did, and then she showed him the little cake she had brought with\nher, and told him how the old woman had declared that if he would but\neat it he would certainly be cured.\n\nThe prince heard her listlessly, and when she had ended he answered in\na weak voice, \"There is only one thing that can cure me, and that is to\nfind some trace of the beautiful stranger, and indeed unless I can hope\nto see her again sometime, I do not care to live.\"\n\n\"Do but try the cake, however,\" said his mother persuasively. \"See it\nis very small and light. I will break off a piece for you.\"\n\nSo saying she broke a piece from the cake to give to him, but what was\nher surprise to see there in the piece a golden ring.\n\n\"This is certainly a very strange thing,\" she cried. \"Here is a ring in\nthe cake.\"\n\n\"A ring!\" the prince repeated. He raised himself on his elbow to look,\nand no sooner had he taken it in his hand than he started up with a\nloud cry of joy. \"Where did you get the cake?\" he cried. \"Who brought\nit to you?\" for he at once recognized the ring as the one the beautiful\nstranger had had.\n\n\"It was brought me by an old woman who works in the kitchen; Maria di\nLegno they call her.\"\n\n\"Let her be brought here at once,\" cried the prince.\n\nAn attendant was sent to summon Maria and while he waited the prince\nstrode up and down the room holding the ring in his hand and unable to\ncontrol his impatience.\n\nMaria had been expecting this summons, and she had managed meanwhile\nto arrange her hair, and dress herself in her sunlight dress, and hide\nin the figure again; and so it was as the homely old woman that she\nappeared before the prince once more.\n\n\"Tell me, old woman,\" he cried, \"was it you who put this ring in the\ncake?\"\n\n\"It was,\" answered Maria.\n\n\"And do you know to whom it belongs?\"\n\n\"I do.\"\n\n\"Then tell me instantly where she is,\" cried the prince, filled with\nhope.\n\n\"I am she,\" answered Maria.\n\nWhen the prince heard this he thought the old woman must be mad, but\nMaria opened the door and stepped out from the figure in all her\nbrightness and beauty. Then the heart of the prince seemed like to\nbreak with joy. He fell upon one knee and took Maria by the hand. \"At\nlast you have come,\" cried he. \"And now you shall never leave me\nagain, for you and you only out of all the world shall be my bride.\"\n\nTo this Maria gladly assented, for she had loved him from the first\nmoment when he had found her in the wood.\n\nShe told her story, and after the king and queen found who she was they\nwere very willing to have her for their daughter-in-law. She and the\nprince were married with great magnificence, and lived happily ever\nafter, and the wooden figure they kept to show to their children and\ntheir children's children.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE EVIL ONE WHO MARRIED THREE SISTERS\n\n(_From the Italian_)\n\n\nONCE upon a time the Evil One made up his mind that he would like\nto get married, so he changed himself into a handsome young man; he\nmounted a coal-black steed; and away he rode to the city to find a wife\nfor himself.\n\n[Illustration: EACH ONE WAS SAID TO BE HANDSOMER THAN THE OTHERS]\n\nIn this city lived a merchant who had three daughters, and they were so\nbeautiful that each one was said to be handsomer than the others.\n\nThe Evil One soon made acquaintance with the merchant, and in a\nshort time proposed for the hand of his eldest daughter.\n\nThe girl was delighted at the idea of having him for a husband, for\nshe thought him the handsomest man she had ever seen. The father gave\nhis consent, and the marriage was celebrated with great feasting and\nrejoicing.\n\nAfterward the Evil One and his bride entered a coach and drove away\ntogether. They went on and on until they had left the city and had\ndriven through a lonely forest, and as soon as they had passed that\nthey came to a most magnificent house which the Evil One had raised up\nfor himself.\n\nThe coach drew up before the door and he helped his bride to alight.\n\"This is my home,\" said he, \"and as long as you are my true and\nobedient wife all the treasures it contains are yours.\"\n\nThe girl was overcome with joy at the sight of his magnificent\npossessions, and when he led her in and through one handsome room after\nanother she could hardly control her pride and delight. Afterward\nhe showed her through the gardens, and the flowers were so many and\nvarious that she had never seen the like before.\n\nThe Evil One and his bride now lived very happily together for a month,\nbut at the end of that time he told the girl that he was obliged to go\naway on a journey and that he would not return for three days. During\nthat time she must amuse herself as best she could. She might go all\nover the house and examine the treasures that were in it, and he gave\nher a great bunch of keys which were the keys of the different rooms.\nOne door alone she must not open, and that was the Red door at the end\nof the passage. If she opened this, even so much as a crack, great\nmisfortune would follow.\n\nHe then kissed his bride and bade her farewell, but before leaving he\ngave her a bunch of flowers, and begged her to wear it while he was\naway.\n\nAfter he had gone the girl fastened the flowers in the bosom of her\ndress, and then she began to open the different doors in the house and\nto go through the rooms, for many of them she had never seen before.\nShe was amazed at the treasures she found in them, and began to think\nher husband must be the richest man in all the world.\n\nShe amused herself very well for two days, and during that time the\nflowers upon her bosom remained as fresh as when her husband had first\ngiven them to her.\n\nBut by the time the third day came the girl had seen everything there\nwas in the house except what lay behind the Red door. As she had\nnothing to do except wonder about that she grew more and more curious.\n\"It must be some treasure more magnificent than all the rest,\" she said\nto herself, \"and which my husband intends to surprise me with. It\nwould surely do no harm if I just took one peep at it.\"\n\nShe put the key in the door and turned it. Immediately, and in spite of\nall she could do to hold it, the door swung wide open, and she saw at\nher feet a pit filled with fire. She sprang back, but before she could\nclose the door a flame leaped up and scorched the flowers upon her\nbosom so that they hung black and dead.\n\nFrightened out of her senses the girl managed to shut the door and lock\nit. The first thing she did was to take off the flowers and hide them,\nand then she went out to the garden to gather a fresh bunch before her\nhusband's return. She hunted everywhere, but nowhere could she find\nflowers such as he had given her.\n\nWhile she was still searching she heard him riding up to the door and\nshe was obliged to go out to meet him.\n\nAs soon as the Evil One saw her he asked, \"Have you opened the Red\ndoor?\"\n\n\"No,\" answered the girl, and she trembled so that she could hardly\nstand.\n\n\"Then where are the flowers I gave you?\"\n\n\"They withered because they had no water, and so I threw them away.\"\n\n\"That is false,\" cried the Evil One; \"you have disobeyed me, and you\nshall be punished as you deserve.\" And with that he caught hold of the\ngirl and threw her into the pit.\n\nThen he mounted his black charger and rode away to the merchant's house.\n\nThe merchant was delighted to see him and began to enquire about his\ndaughter.\n\nThe Evil One put on a very mournful look. \"My dear wife is dead,\" he\nsaid, \"and I am so lonely that I can scarcely bear it. Give me, I beg\nof you, your second daughter for a wife, that she may take her sister's\nplace in my house and comfort me.\"\n\nThe merchant was very much grieved to hear of his daughter's death, but\nhe felt pity for the Evil One, and as his second daughter was willing\nhe gave her to him as a wife.\n\nAs soon as they were married they got into a coach and drove away\ntogether.\n\nWhen they reached the house of the Evil One the new bride was as much\ndelighted with it as her sister had been. They went inside and she\ncould not admire enough all the magnificence she saw.\n\nShe and her husband lived together very happily for a month, and at the\nend of that time he told her he was obliged to go on a long journey,\nand he would not be able to return for three days. However, he told\nher she might amuse herself while he was away by going over the house.\nHe gave her the keys of all the rooms, and said she might go into any\nof them; only the Red door at the end of the long passage she must not\nopen on any account.\n\nThe girl promised, and then after bidding her good-by the Evil One rode\naway, but to her, too, before leaving, he gave a bunch of flowers, and\nbegged her to wear it until he returned.\n\nAfter he had gone the girl began to go through the house, and when she\nsaw all the treasures that were in it she could hardly restrain her\njoy. She examined the furniture and statues and the ornaments of gold\nand silver.\n\nAt the end of two days she had opened every door in the house except\nthe Red door. She began to wonder what was behind it, and though she\ntried to occupy herself with other things she grew more and more\ncurious. At last she could restrain her curiosity no longer.\n\n\"I will only open the door a crack,\" she thought, \"and will just peep\nin, and my husband need never know it.\"\n\nShe put the key in the lock and turned it, and immediately the door\nswung wide open. The girl could not hold it.\n\nBelow her lay a pit of fire, and in it was her sister, and before she\ncould step back or move, a flame leaped up and burned the flowers on\nher bosom to a crisp.\n\nThe girl was frightened to death, for now she knew the man she had\nmarried was the Evil One himself.\n\nShe managed to shut the door at last, and the first thing she did was\nto throw the flowers away. Then she went out in the garden to gather a\nfresh bunch. She hunted everywhere, but no place could she find any in\nthe least like those that had been burned.\n\nWhile she was still hunting her husband came home; she was afraid to\nhave him find her in the garden, and so she went out to meet him.\n\nThe first thing he asked her was, \"Where are the flowers I gave you to\nwear?\"\n\n\"They fell from my bosom while I was out walking, and I have not been\nable to find them.\"\n\n\"That is not true,\" cried the Evil One in a terrible voice. \"You have\nopened the Red door and the flowers are burned.\"\n\n\"No,\" cried the girl half fainting with terror. But with no more words\nthe Evil One caught hold of her and threw her down into the pit with\nher sister.\n\nHe locked the door upon them and mounted his coal-black charger and\nrode back to the merchant's house.\n\nAs soon as the merchant saw him from the window he came out to meet\nhim. \"Has any misfortune happened to my dear daughter?\" he cried.\n\nThe Evil One began to lament. \"Alas, she is dead,\" he said, \"and I am\nleft so lonely that it seems as though I could not bear it.\"\n\nIn the end the merchant gave the Evil One his third daughter for a\nwife, though it broke his heart to part with her, for she was his\nyoungest daughter and dearer to him than either of the others.\n\nThe Evil One married her, and they got in the coach and drove away\ntogether.\n\nWhen the new bride saw the magnificent house he lived in, she was no\nless pleased with it than her sisters had been.\n\nFor a month she and her husband lived there very happily, and then he\ntold her he was obliged to go away on a long journey, and would be gone\nthree days. He gave her the keys of the house, and told her she might\ngo into any of the rooms she chose. Only the Red door at the end of the\nlong passage she must not open on any account.\n\nThe new bride promised, and her husband gave her a bunch of flowers,\nwhich he begged her to wear while he was gone. Then he rode away.\n\nThe girl watched him until he was out of sight, and then the very first\nthing she did was to put the flowers in a glass of water, that she\nmight keep them fresh until he came back.\n\nAfter that she began to amuse herself by going over the house and\nseeing what it contained.\n\nFor two days she was very busy in this way, but at the end of that time\nshe had seen everything, and began to wonder what was behind the Red\ndoor.\n\nShe stood it as long as she could and then she put the key in the lock\nand turned it. Immediately the door swung open. What was the girl's\nhorror to see at her feet a chasm of fire, and in it her two dear\nsisters whom she had thought were dead.\n\nAs soon as they saw her they cried aloud, \"Alas, alas! What have you\ndone! You have opened the Red door and now you, too, will be thrown\ninto this pit of fire as we were.\"\n\n\"No, my dear sisters,\" said the girl. \"Reach me your hands and I will\nhelp you out, and then we will find some way to escape from the power\nof this Evil One.\"\n\nThe sisters reached her their hands and she managed to pull them out,\nfirst one and then the other. After they had kissed each other and wept\ntogether the youngest sister hid the others away in her closet among\nher clothes. And none too soon, for already she heard her husband at\nthe door.\n\nShe made haste to pin the flowers he had given her upon the bosom of\nher dress, and then she went out to meet him.\n\nThe first thing the Evil One said was, \"Did you open the Red door?\"\n\n\"No, I did not open it,\" answered the girl.\n\nThe Evil One looked, and she had the flowers upon her bosom, and they\nwere as fresh as when he had given them to her. Then he believed her,\nand he could not do enough to show how delighted he was with her. He\nshowered gifts upon her, and there was nothing she might not have had\nfor the asking.\n\nSo they lived for awhile, apparently in great peace, and the young\nwife kept her sisters hidden, so that the Evil One suspected nothing.\nOne day she said to her husband, \"I would like to send a present to my\nfather, so that he may know how prosperous I am, but I have no chest\nsuitable to send it in.\"\n\nThe Evil One immediately said he would have one made, and she told him\nthe shape and size she wished it. It was to be of heavy wood, bound\nround with iron, and such and such a size. When it was finished it was\nbig enough for a person to get in it and to have room to lie there.\n\nWhen the chest was brought home the young wife had it taken to her\nroom, and after she had locked the door she bade her eldest sister\nclimb into the chest and then she closed the lid and fastened it.\n\nThen she called her husband. \"Carry this to my father's house,\" she\nsaid, \"and whatever you do, do not open the lid nor look in it. I will\nbe watching you from my window, and if you attempt to do that I shall\nsurely see you.\"\n\nThe Evil One took the chest and started off with it, but he had a great\ndeal of curiosity, and he wondered what his wife was sending to her\nfather to make the chest so heavy. He waited, however, until he was\nwell out of sight of the house, and then he put down the chest and\nprepared to open it.\n\nThe girl inside called out, \"I see what you are doing! I see what you\nare doing!\"\n\nThe Evil One thought it was his wife at home, who was calling after\nhim. \"My wife certainly has a keen sight,\" he thought to himself; but\nhe picked up the chest again and went on with it.\n\nWhen he reached the merchant's house he did not knock nor wait to see\nanyone. He opened the door and threw the chest inside. \"Merchant, here\nis a present my wife sent you,\" he called out. Then he shut the door\nand went on home.\n\nYou may imagine the joy of the good merchant when he opened the chest\nand found his eldest daughter inside it alive and well.\n\nNot long after the wife said to her husband, \"I would like to send\nanother present to my father.\"\n\nThe Evil One was willing, for he could refuse her nothing, so she had\nanother chest made exactly like the first, and in this she put her\nsecond sister.\n\nWhen all was ready she called her husband and bade him take the chest\nand carry it to her father. \"And whatever you do, be sure you do not\nopen it on the way,\" she said. \"I shall be watching from my window, and\nif you do I shall certainly see you.\"\n\nThe Evil One took up the chest and started off with it. This time he\nwaited until he was in the middle of the wood before he attempted to\nopen it. No sooner had he put it down, however, and laid his hand on\nthe lid than the girl inside called out:\n\n\"I see what you are doing! I see what you are doing!\"\n\n\"My wife certainly can see farther than anyone in the world,\" thought\nthe Evil One. Then he took up the chest and went on again.\n\nWhen he reached the merchant's house he threw the chest inside the\ndoor. \"Merchant, your daughter sends you this present,\" he called out,\nand home he went again.\n\nNow, some time after this the wife would send a third present to her\nfather, and the Evil One was willing, so she had a third chest made\nexactly like the other two. She said to her husband, \"Very soon the\nchest will be ready, and then I will call you. Carry it carefully, and\ndo not open it on the way, for I will be out on my balcony this time\nand will see you if you do.\"\n\nAs soon as the girl was alone she made a figure and dressed it in her\nclothes and set it out on the balcony. She put a quantity of the Evil\nOne's treasure into the chest, and got in herself and called to her\nhusband.\n\nHe came in and there stood the chest all ready for him, with the lid\nclosed. He picked it up and it was heavier than either of the others,\nso heavy that the sweat ran down his face.\n\nHe started off with it, and when he was a little way from the house he\nlooked back. There was the figure sitting on the balcony, and the Evil\nOne thought it was his wife. \"Yes, there she is watching me,\" he said,\n\"and her eyes are so keen that if I do but sit down to rest my back she\nwill see me.\"\n\nHe went on with the chest, and this time he made no attempt to open\nit. He threw the chest inside the merchant's door and called out,\n\"Merchant, here is another present your daughter sends you;\" and then\nhe went on home again.\n\nWhen the merchant opened the chest and found his third daughter in it\nhe was beside himself with joy. The three sisters embraced each other\ntenderly, and the youngest divided the treasure equally, so that each\none had enough to give her a rich dowry.\n\nBut the Evil One went on home, and by the time he reached there he was\nvery hungry. He called to his wife to come and give him his supper, but\nthere was no answer. He called her again, and then in a rage he went\nout onto the balcony where the figure was sitting. \"Will you come when\nI call you or will you not?\" he cried.\n\nStill the figure made no answer. The Evil One laid his hand on its\nshoulder and gave it a shake, and as soon as he did that it all fell to\npieces, and he saw the trick that had been played upon him. Raging he\nrushed about everywhere, but he could find only his wife's empty jewel\nboxes.\n\n\"She has left me,\" he cried, \"and taken my treasures with her.\"\n\nHe leaped upon his charger and rode away like the wind, determined to\ndemand his wife of the merchant, but when he drew near the house he saw\nall three of the sisters sitting out on the balcony together. As soon\nas he appeared they began to mock at him and taunt him.\n\nThe thought of three wives at once was too much for the Evil One. In\nhis rage and disappointment he suddenly burst and disappeared in fire\nand smoke, and since that time he has never been seen again.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FAITHFUL DOG\n\n(_From the Japanese_)\n\n\nTHERE were once a man and his wife who were so poor that they scarcely\nknew from one time to another whether they would have enough to eat.\n\nOne day the man found a starving dog near the house and brought it\nhome with him. \"Look!\" said he to his wife. \"Here is one even more\nunfortunate than ourselves. See whether you cannot find something in\nthe house for it to eat, for unless you do it will surely die.\"\n\nThe woman hunted about and found a handful of rice, which she cooked\nand gave to the dog. After it had eaten it grew stronger, and began\nto play about and show such pretty tricks that the poor couple were\ndelighted with it.\n\nAfter this it lived with them in the house and they became very fond of\nit. What little they had they shared with it, and it grew strong and\nglossy.\n\nOne day the poor couple went out to walk in the garden, and the dog,\nas usual, followed close to them. When they came to a certain corner,\nhowever, it left them and began to scratch at the ground and bark.\n\n\"Look!\" cried the woman. \"Something must certainly be buried there. I\nwonder what it can be?\"\n\nThe man called the dog, but it would not leave the corner, and only\nlooked at him and barked again.\n\n\"Something must indeed be there,\" said the man to his wife. \"I will\nrun to our neighbor's house and borrow a spade, and dig down until I\nfind what it is.\"\n\n[Illustration: OVERCOME WITH JOY AT THE SIGHT OF SUCH A TREASURE]\n\nSo saying he hurried away to the neighbor's, and asked him to lend him\na spade.\n\n\"What do you wish to do with it?\" asked the neighbor, who was a very\ninquisitive man.\n\n\"I wish to dig in a corner of my garden, for I think my dog has found\nsomething there.\"\n\nThe neighbor lent him the spade, and himself went over to the garden to\nsee whether the good man would find anything.\n\nWhen the dog saw his master return and make ready to dig, he stood\naside, wagging his tail with joy.\n\nThe man had not dug far when his spade struck something hard, and this,\nwhen it was uncovered, proved to be a chest of gold. The good couple\nwere overcome with joy at the sight of such a treasure. They almost\nlost their senses, and even embraced the dog in their delight.\n\nSo happy were they that they did not notice that the neighbor had\nturned green with envy. \"That is a valuable dog,\" he said to them at\nlast. \"What will you sell him for?\"\n\n\"Sell him!\" cried the good man. \"There is not enough gold in all the\nworld to buy him. The only good fortune that has ever come to us has\ncome through him.\"\n\n\"Then at least lend him to me,\" said the neighbor. \"Surely you would\nnot keep all the good fortune to yourselves. It may be that he will\nfind a chest of gold for me in my garden.\"\n\nThe good people were willing to do this, so the envious neighbor\nfastened a piece of rope about the dog's neck and led him home with\nhim, and he and his wife took the dog out in the garden and walked up\nand down and around with him just as the good couple had done. They\nwere obliged to keep the rope about the dog's neck and drag him along,\nfor they had so often before this thrown hard words and harder stones\nat him that he would not go with them willingly. But though he was\nobliged to follow because of the rope he would not bark nor even sniff\nabout, and at last the envious neighbor grew so angry that he killed\nthe dog and buried it under a plane tree in the garden.\n\nThe good man waited and waited for the neighbor to bring back the dog,\nbut as he did not do so he went over after a few days to ask for it.\n\nThen the envious neighbor told him he had killed it and buried it under\nthe plane tree.\n\nThe good man was filled with grief when he heard that his dog was dead.\nSadly he returned to his wife and told her what had happened, and they\nsat down and wept together as though indeed it had been a child that\nhad died.\n\nBut that night the man had a wonderful dream, and his wife also\ndreamed, and the dreams were exactly the same. In the dreams the dog\nappeared to them, and said, \"Go; ask the neighbor to give you the plane\ntree beneath which I am buried and make of it a mortar and pestle, and\nwhatever you grind with them shall be changed to gold.\"\n\nWhen the good couple awoke they began each one to tell the other of\nthe dream, and they were filled with wonder to find that their dreams\nwere both the same. \"This is very wonderful,\" said the man, \"and I am\nsure they must be true dreams, or the dog would not have appeared to us\nboth.\"\n\nSo as soon as he arose he went over to the neighbor's and begged and\nentreated him to give him the plane tree. The envious man refused, but\nafter a time he agreed to sell it to the good man for ten pieces of\ngold.\n\nThe man paid him, and then cut down the plane tree and dragged it\nhome, and made of it a mortar and pestle.\n\nAs soon as this was done he put a handful of rice in the mortar and\nbegan to grind it, and under the pestle all the rice was changed to\ngold. Now the good people were rich indeed. They could grind out gold\nat any time until their arms grew tired. They bought fine clothes, and\ngood things to eat and everything their hearts could desire.\n\nIt was not long before the news of all this came to the ears of the\nenvious neighbor. He went over to the house of the good man and began\nto rage and storm at him. \"This is a pretty way to treat me!\" he cried.\n\"You come to me and beg for my plane tree and because of my good heart\nI cannot refuse you, and you only pay me ten pieces of gold for what is\nworth more than a thousand. At least lend the mortar and pestle to me\nfor a day, that I may grind out some money, too.\"\n\nThe good man was willing to do this, so he lent the mortar and pestle\nto the envious neighbor who carried them away with him.\n\nAs soon as he reached home he put a handful of rice into the mortar and\nbegan to grind it, but when he and his wife looked, it had all turned\ninto ill-smelling filth. The envious man was beside himself with rage,\nand taking an ax he chopped the mortar and pestle into pieces, and\nthrew them into the fire.\n\nThe good man waited and waited in vain for his neighbor to return the\nmortar, and at last went over to ask for it.\n\n\"I have burned it,\" said the envious man. \"It only filled the house\nwith filth, and at any rate it was made of my plane tree and I had a\nright to do with it as I wished.\"\n\nThe good man returned to his wife very sorrowful, for lost now was all\nfurther hope of riches. But that night the couple again dreamed. In\ntheir dreams the dog appeared to them and told them the man must go to\nthe neighbor and ask him for the ashes of the mortar and pestle. \"Take\na handful of these ashes, and fling them over any tree,\" said the dog,\n\"and even although it is dead, and has been dead many years, it will\nburst into bloom.\"\n\nThe next morning the man arose in haste, and went over to the\nneighbor's house, and begged him to give him the ashes of the mortar\nand pestle.\n\n\"There they are,\" said the envious man contemptuously. \"You may gather\nthem up if you choose, and much good may they do you.\"\n\nThe good man gathered them up very carefully, and carried them home. To\ntest them he took up a handful and flung it over a withered branch in\nhis garden. Immediately the branch burst forth into bloom; the whole\ngarden was filled with the perfume of the flowers.\n\nThe man then put the ashes in a bag and started out with them; he went\nabout through the country throwing handfuls of ashes over dead trees\nand bringing them to life, and in this way he earned a great deal of\nmoney.\n\nAt last the prince of the country heard of all this, and sent for the\nman to come to the palace, and began to question him. \"Is it true,\" he\nasked, \"that you can bring dead trees to life and make them blossom, as\nI have heard?\"\n\n\"That is indeed no more than the truth,\" answered the man.\n\n\"It is a thing I should greatly like to see,\" said the prince. \"I have\nin my garden a tree that has lately died, from what cause I do not\nknow. If you can do as you say and cause it to break forth into blossom\nI will reward you well, but if you fail, you shall be punished as a\nboaster and a cheat.\"\n\nThe man was then taken into a magnificent garden, and the prince and\nhis suite went with him to witness the spectacle. The man was shown\nthe tree, and the branches were indeed as dry and lifeless as though\nthey had been of stone. The man climbed up it, and when he had gone as\nhigh as he could he opened his bag and took out a handful of ashes and\nscattered them around. Almost immediately small buds appeared on the\nbranches; they grew and swelled and then burst forth into rosy bloom.\nSo heavy were the clusters of blossoms that the man in the tree was\nquite hidden by them.\n\nThe prince was filled with admiration, and so much pleased that he gave\nthe man a bag of gold, and praised him beyond measure.\n\nNow when the neighbor heard of the fresh good fortune that had befallen\nthe other, he was more envious than ever. He sent word to the prince\nthat he, too, could cause dead trees to blossom, and at that the prince\nbade the envious neighbor come to the palace. He hoped to see again as\nfine a sight as the good man had shown him.\n\nThe prince and all his suite as before accompanied the envious man to a\ngarden where there was another dead tree. The envious man had his bag\nof ashes with him, and he climbed up among the branches and settled\nhimself in a crotch. The prince and his attendants stood below, all\nlooking up at him with open eyes and mouths.\n\nThe envious man took out a double handful and scattered them around.\nThey blew down into the eyes and mouths of the prince and his suite,\nblinding them and choking them, but the tree remained as dead and bare\nas ever.\n\nThe prince was so angry that, as soon as he had recovered from the\nashes, he had the envious man taken away and punished. But he sent for\nthe good man and raised him to riches and honor, so that he and his\nwife lived happy forever after.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nKEMPION\n\n(_From the Scotch Ballads_)\n\n\nANGUS MAC PHERSON had one daughter, and she was so beautiful that it\nmade the heart ache to look at her. Her hair was of red gold; her eyes\nwere as blue as the sky and she was as slim and fair as a reed, and\nbecause of her beauty she was always called the Fair Ellen.\n\nAngus Mac Pherson loved Fair Ellen as he did the apple of his eye, but\nall the same her mother had only been dead a year when he was for\nmarrying again and bringing a stepmother into the house.\n\nThe new wife was handsome too, with eyes as black as sloes, and hair\nlike a cloud at night, but the moment she saw Fair Ellen she knew the\ngirl was the more beautiful, and she hated her with a bitter black hate\nfor her beauty's sake.\n\nWell, they lived along, and Fair Ellen served her stepmother well. She\nserved her with foot and she served her with hand. Everything that she\ncould do for her she did, but the stepmother hated her worse and worse,\nand a powerful wicked witch was she.\n\nNow it chanced that Angus Mac Pherson had to go on a far journey, and\nhe would be away a long time. He said good-by to his wife and his\ndaughter and then he started out, and no one was left in the house but\nthose two alone.\n\nAfter he had been gone a little while the stepmother said, \"Come, Fair\nEllen, we are both sad and down-hearted. Let us go out and walk upon\nthe cliffs where the wind blows and the sun shines.\"\n\nFair Ellen was ready enough to go, so they set out together.\n\nThey walked along and they walked along until they came to Estmere\nCrag, and always as they walked the stepmother's lips moved as though\nshe were talking to herself, but no word did she utter.\n\n\"What is that you say?\" asked Fair Ellen.\n\n\"'Tis a rhyme I learned when I was young,\" said the stepmother. \"I was\nbut minding myself of it.\"\n\nAfter awhile they reached the top of the crag, and the sea was far, far\nbelow them. Then the stepmother turned to Fair Ellen.\n\n\"Blue of eyes and fair of speech,\" she cried; \"you have crossed my\npath, and none may do that and have good come of it. You have crossed\nmy path with your beauty, but with your beauty you shall cross it no\nlonger.\"\n\nFair Ellen stood and looked at her, and her heart grew cold within her,\nand she could stir neither hand nor foot.\n\nThe stepmother raised her hand and touched her. \"A loathly worm you\nshall be,\" she cried. \"You shall dwell under Estmere Crag and the salt\nsea shall be your home, and bonowed[1] shall ye never be, till Kempion,\nthe king's own son, shall come to the crag and thrice kiss thee.\"\n\nThen the witch turned and walked down the crag, and back to her own\nhome.\n\nBut the Fair Ellen was changed in her shape so that even her own father\nwould have feared her. Her shape grew long, her breath was fire, and\nshe became a scaly dragon. Down over Estmere Crag she swung, and deep\nin a cavern she hid herself, and the smoke rose from the cavern and\neveryone was afraid.\n\nNow it was not long that she had been there when word came to the\nking's palace that such a beast was in the land, and that all the\ncountry was wasted because of her. But none dared to go out against her\nbecause she was so terrible.\n\nBut Kempion, the king's own son, was as brave a prince as ever lived.\nHandsome he was, too, and straight and tall.\n\nNow when he heard of the great beast his heart rose within him, and he\nswore that he would go out to slay it, and Segramore, his brother, said\nthat he would go with him.\n\nThey built themselves a bonny boat, for they could best come to the\nbeast's lair by sea, and they two set out together; they two and no\nother, for everyone else was afraid to go with them.\n\nThey sailed out and on and around, and so they came within sight of\nEstmere Crag, and there lay the great worm stretched in and out among\nthe rocks. It was a gruesome sight, and with every breath it breathed,\nthe crag was lit up as if by fire.\n\nKempion and his brother had scarce come within a mile of the land when\nthe beast saw them, and raised itself. It opened its mouth and fire and\nflame poured forth. It swung its head to and fro and the sea was lashed\ninto foam.\n\n\"Keep further out,\" cried Kempion to his brother. \"Keep further out,\nfor this beast has sure gone mad at the sight of us; a little more and\nit will set fire to all the land.\"\n\nThen Segramore kept the boat off, and Kempion bent his arbalest bow and\naimed an arrow at the head of the beast. He bent his bow, but the arrow\nstayed, for when he saw the eyes of the beast they were the eyes of a\nsorrowing maid, and they seemed to pierce to his very soul.\n\nNevertheless he kept his bow still bent and he called to it across the\nwater, \"Now, by my soul, unless you swear to me that you will quit my\nland, with this same shaft will I shoot you dead.\"\n\nThen the worm made answer,\n\n    \"Out of my rocks I will not rise\n       Nor leave the land for fear of thee\n     Till over Estmere Crag ye come\n       And on my mouth three times kiss me.\"\n\nThen Kempion was like one distraught. He threw down his bow and bade\nhis brother row back to the land. \"I will go over the crag to you,\nbeast,\" he cried, \"though I go to my death at the same time.\"\n\nSegramore begged and pleaded with him, but he would not listen. As soon\nas they came to the shore he leaped from the boat and all unarmed set\nout for Estmere Crag.\n\nUp and up he climbed, and it was a dizzy height. Far, far below was the\nblue sea, and half way up from it the cavern where the beast made its\nlair. Kempion could see it there now, twisted among the rocks.\n\nOut swung the great beast and around it came, the fiercest beast that\never was seen. The hair rose on Kempion's head and he shut his eyes,\nfor it was near him now. It came close and the fire was all about him,\nbut it did not burn him. Then he kissed it.\n\nHe kissed it and the mouth was cold.\n\nOut it swung and again it came.\n\n    \"Out of my lair I will not rise,\n       I will not leave for fear of thee,\n     Oh, Kempion, you dear king's son,\n       Till on the mouth you thrice kiss me.\"\n\nThen Kempion kissed the beast again and its lips were warm. The third\ntime he kissed it, and its mouth was the mouth of a woman.\n\nThen Kempion looked, and before him stood the most beautiful maid he\nhad ever seen. Slim as a reed she was, and very fair, for her eyes were\nas blue as the sky, and her hair as bright as gold, and it fell all\nabout her, and down to her knees like a mantle.\n\nThen Kempion took his cloak and wrapped it about her. \"You are my own\ntrue love,\" he said, \"and other maid I will marry none, for never have\nI seen such beauty and gentleness before.\"\n\nSo he carried her up from Estmere Crag, and home to the palace of the\nking.\n\nThere, all was sorrow and mourning, for they thought that Kempion was\nsurely dead. But when they saw him come into the hall, and saw the\nbeautiful bride he had brought with him, all their sorrow was turned\ninto rejoicing.\n\nWhen they had heard how the young prince had broken the enchantment\nthat had held Fair Ellen the old king turned to her. \"Tell me, oh, my\ndaughter,\" he said, \"was it mermaid in the sea, or was it werewolf in\nthe wood, or some wicked man or wicked woman that wrought this cruel\nspell on thee?\"\n\n\"It was not werewolf in the wood, it was not mermaid in the sea, but it\nwas my wicked stepmother that wrought this cruel spell on me.\"\n\nThen said the king, \"Punished shall she surely be; she shall be taken\nto the top of Estmere Crag, and thrown over into the sea, for such\nwickedness shall pollute my land no longer. But you, Fair Ellen, shall\nbe the bride of my own dear son Kempion, and the half of all I have\nshall be yours and his forever.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nFOOTNOTE:\n\n[1] Bonowed--ransomed or rescued.\n\n\n\n\nBUTTERCUP\n\n(_From the Norse_)\n\n\nTHERE was once a poor woman who I had one son, a little boy so fat and\nround, and with such bright yellow hair that he was called Buttercup.\nThe house where they lived was upon the edge of a lonely forest, and\nupon the other side of this forest lived a wicked old witch.\n\nOne day when the woman was baking she heard Sharptooth, her dog, begin\nto bark. \"Run, Buttercup, and see who is coming,\" she said.\n\nButtercup ran and looked out. \"Oh, Mother, it is an old witch with her\nhead under one arm and a bag under the other.\"\n\n\"Come, quick,\" cried the mother, \"and hide yourself in the dough trough\nso that she may not see you.\"\n\nButtercup jumped into the dough trough and his mother shut the lid, so\nthat no one would have known he was there.\n\nThen in a moment there was a knock at the door, and the old witch\nopened it and looked in. She had put her head on where it belonged now,\nand she looked almost like any old woman.\n\n\"Good-day, daughter,\" said she.\n\n\"Good-day, mother,\" answered the woman.\n\n\"May I come in and rest my bones a bit?\"\n\nThe woman did not want her to come in, but neither did she like to say\nno. \"Come in, in heaven's name.\"\n\nThe old witch entered and sat down on the settle, and then she began to\nlook and peer about the room.\n\n\"Have you no children?\" she asked.\n\n\"Yes, I have one son.\"\n\n\"And how do you call him?\"\n\n\"I call him Buttercup.\"\n\n\"Is he at home?\"\n\n\"No; his father takes him out with him when he goes hunting.\"\n\nThe old witch looked greatly disappointed. \"I am sorry Buttercup is not\nat home, for I have a sweet little knife--a beautiful silver knife, and\nit is so sharp that it will cut through anything. If he were only here\nI would give it to him.\"\n\nWhen Buttercup in the dough trough heard this he opened the lid and\nlooked out. \"Peep! peep! here I am!\" he cried.\n\n\"That is a lucky thing,\" said she, and she looked well satisfied. \"But\nthe knife is at the bottom of my bag and I am so old and stiff that\nyou will have to crawl in yourself and get it.\"\n\nButtercup was willing, so into the bag he crawled. Then the old witch\nclosed it and flung it over her shoulder, and away she went so fast\nthat the good mother could neither stop her nor follow her.\n\nThe old witch went on and on through the forest, but after a while she\nbegan to feel very tired.\n\n\"How far is it to Snoring?\" she asked of Buttercup in the bag.\n\n\"A good two miles,\" answered Buttercup.\n\n\"Two miles! That is a long way. I'll just lie down and sleep a bit, and\ndo you keep as still as a mouse in the bag, or it will be the worse for\nyou.\"\n\nShe tied the mouth of the bag up tight, and then she fell fast asleep,\nand snored till the leaves shook overhead.\n\nWhen he heard that, Buttercup took from his pocket a little dull old\nknife that his father had given him, and managed to cut a slit in the\nsack and crawl out. Then he found a gnarly stump of a fir tree and put\nthat in the bag in his place and ran away home to his mother, and all\nthis while the old witch never stirred.\n\nAfter a time, however, she began to stretch her bones and look about\nher. \"Eh! Eh!\" she sighed, \"that was a good sleep I had, but now we'll\nbe journeying on again.\"\n\nShe slung the bag on her back, but the sharp points of the root kept\nsticking into her at every step. \"That boy looked plump and soft\nenough,\" she muttered to herself, \"but now he seems all elbows and\nknees.\" Then she cried to the stump, \"Hey! there, you inside the bag,\ndo not stick your bones into me like that. Do you think I am a pin\ncushion?\"\n\nThe stump made no answer for it could not, and besides it had not\nheard, and the old witch hobbled on muttering and grumbling to herself.\n\nWhen she reached her house her ugly, stupid witch daughter was watching\nfor her from the window. \"Have you brought home anything to eat?\" she\ncalled.\n\n\"Yes, I have brought home a fine plump boy,\" said the witch, and she\nthrew the bag down on the floor and began rubbing her bruises. \"I'm\nhalf dead with carrying him, too.\"\n\n\"Let me see,\" cried the daughter, and she untied the mouth of the sack\nand looked in. \"A boy!\" she cried. \"This is no boy, but only an old\nstump of a fir tree.\"\n\n\"Stupid you are, and stupid you will be,\" cried the witch. \"I tell you\nit is a boy and a good fat boy at that.\"\n\n\"I tell you it is not,\" said the girl.\n\n\"I tell you it is.\" The old witch took up the sack and looked into it,\nand there, sure enough, was only an old stump that she had broken her\nback carrying home. Then she was in a fine rage. \"How he got away I\ndon't know, but never mind! I'll have him yet whether or no.\"\n\nSo the next morning while the good woman on the other side of the\nforest was making her beds she heard Sharptooth begin to bark.\n\n\"Run, Buttercup, and see who is coming,\" she called.\n\n\"Mother, it is the same old woman who was here yesterday.\"\n\n\"Quick! Jump into the clock case, and do not dare to so much as stir a\nfinger until she has gone.\"\n\nButtercup ran and hid himself in the clock case, and presently there\nwas a knock at the door and the old witch looked into the room.\n\n\"Good morning, daughter.\"\n\n\"Good morning, mother.\"\n\n\"May I come in and rest my poor old bones for a minute?\"\n\n\"Come in, in heaven's name.\"\n\nThe old witch came in and sat down as near the dough trough as she\ndared.\n\n\"Daughter, I have journeyed far and I would be glad of a bit of bread\nto eat even if it is only the crust.\"\n\nWell, she might have that and welcome, so the good woman went to the\ndough trough to get a piece, for that was where she kept it. No sooner\nhad she opened the lid than the old witch was close behind her, looking\nover her shoulder, and she was disappointed enough when she found that\nno Buttercup was there.\n\nHowever, she sat down again with the piece of bread in her hand and\nbegan to munch and mumble it, though she had no liking for such dry\nfood as that.\n\n\"Is your little boy Buttercup at home to-day?\" she asked.\n\n\"No. He has gone with his father to catch some trout for dinner.\"\n\n\"That is a pity,\" said the old witch, \"for I brought a present for him\nin my bag. I brought him a silver fork, and it is such a dear little,\npretty little fork that every bite it carries to your mouth tastes\nbetter than what the king himself has to eat.\"\n\nWhen Buttercup heard that he could no longer keep still in the clock\ncase. He must have that pretty little fork. \"Peep! peep!\" he cried,\n\"here I am in the clock case.\" And he opened the door and jumped out.\n\n\"That is well,\" said the old witch, \"but I am too old and stiff to bend\nover and you must crawl into the sack yourself to get the fork.\"\n\nBefore his mother could stop him Buttercup was in the sack, and the old\nwoman had closed the mouth of it, had swung it over her shoulder and\nwas out of the house and off. There was no use in running after her;\nshe went so fast.\n\nAfter while she was well in the forest, and then she did not hurry so.\n\n\"How far is it to Snoring now, you in the bag?\" she asked.\n\n\"Oh, a mile and a half at least.\"\n\n\"That is a long way for old bones,\" said the witch. \"I'll just sit down\nand rest a bit; but mind you, no tricks to-day, for I shall stay wide\nawake this time.\"\n\nSo she sat down by the road with her back against a tree. Then first\nshe yawned, and next she nodded, and then she was asleep and snoring so\nthat the very rocks around were shaken.\n\nWhen Buttercup heard that, he whipped out his little knife and cut a\nslit in the sack and crawled out. Then he put a great heavy stone in\nthe sack and ran away home as fast as his legs would carry him.\n\nAfter while the old witch began to stretch and yawn. \"Well, it's time\nto be journeying on if we would reach Snoring by daylight,\" she said,\nand she did not know she had been asleep at all. She picked up the bag,\nand whew! but it was heavy. \"This boy is fat enough to break a body's\nback,\" said she. \"He ought to make good eating.\" But at every step the\nstone bounced against her ribs till she was black and blue. \"Hi! there,\nyou inside the sack, can't you keep a little quieter?\" she asked. But\nthe stone made no answer, for it could not.\n\nAfter a time the old witch reached her house, and her fat ugly daughter\ncame running to meet her.\n\n\"Did you catch the same boy?\" asked the girl.\n\n\"The very same, and fatter than ever,\" answered the witch, and she\nthrew the bag down on the floor, bump!\n\n\"Oh, let me see him.\" And the witch girl put her hand on the bag.\n\n\"Let it alone!\" screamed the witch mother. \"If you go goggling at him\nagain you'll turn him into a stick or a stone or something, as you did\nbefore. Put on a kettle of water, and as soon as it is hot I'll empty\nhim into it.\"\n\nThe witch girl did as she was told, and every time she went past the\nsack she gave it a poke with her foot. \"The boy may be fat,\" she said,\n\"but he's tough enough to break a body's teeth in the eating.\"\n\nWhen the water began to boil she called her mother, and the old witch\npicked up the sack intending to empty Buttercup into the pot, but\ninstead the great stone rolled into it, ker-splash! and the boiling\nwater flew all about. It flew on the old witch and burned her so that\nshe stamped about the kitchen gnashing her teeth with rage. The fat\ndaughter was so frightened she ran out and hid in the stable until all\nwas quiet again. \"Never mind!\" said the old witch. \"I'll have the boy\nto-morrow for sure.\" So the next day she took up the bag and started\noff for the third time through the forest.\n\nThe good mother was scrubbing her pans when Sharptooth began to bark\noutside. \"Run, Buttercup, and see who is coming now.\"\n\n\"Mother, it is the same old witch who has been here twice before.\"\n\n\"Quick, quick! Hide in the cellar way, and try not to breathe until she\nhas gone.\"\n\nButtercup ran and hid himself in the cellar way, and he was scarcely\nthere before there was a knock at the door and the old witch pushed it\nopen and looked in.\n\n\"May I come in and rest a bit?\"\n\n\"Come in, in heaven's name.\"\n\nThe old witch stepped in and looked all about her.\n\n\"I would like to know what time it is.\"\n\n\"Well, look for yourself; there stands the clock.\"\n\nThe old witch went close to it and took the chance to peep inside the\ncase, but no little boy was there. Then she sat down near the door.\n\n\"Is your little boy Buttercup at home to-day?\"\n\nThe mother said, \"No, he has gone to the mill with his father.\"\n\n\"That is a pity,\" said the old witch, \"for I have a pretty little spoon\nin my bag that I meant to give to him, and it is such a smart little\nspoon that if you do but stir your porridge with it, it changes it into\nsomething so delicious that the princess herself would be glad to eat\nit.\"\n\nWhen Buttercup in the cellar way heard that he wanted the spoon so\nbadly that he could stay hidden no longer. \"Peep! peep! Here I am,\"\nsaid he.\n\n\"I am glad of that,\" said the witch, \"for I had no wish to take the\nspoon home again; but you will have to crawl into the sack yourself to\nget it, for I am too old and stiff.\"\n\nIn a moment Buttercup was in the sack, and in another moment the old\nwitch had swung it over her back and was making off as fast as her legs\nwould carry her. This time she neither stayed nor stopped, but went\nstraight on home, and flung the sack on the floor with Buttercup in it.\n\n\"Did you get him this time?\" asked the girl.\n\n\"Yes, I did,\" said the old witch, \"and there he is, as plump as any\nyoung chicken. Now I'll be off to ask the guests, and do you put him in\nthe pot and make a nice stew of him.\"\n\nAs soon as she had gone the witch girl opened the sack and told\nButtercup to come out. \"Now put your head on the block, Buttercup,\" she\nsaid, \"so that I may chop it off.\"\n\n\"But I do not know how,\" said Buttercup.\n\n[Illustration: \"THEN SHOW ME HOW, AND I WILL HOLD THE AX FOR YOU\"]\n\n\"Stupid! It is easy enough; anyone would know how to do that.\"\n\n\"Then show me how, and I will hold the ax for you.\"\n\nThe stupid witch girl put her head on the block, and as soon as she did\nthat, Buttercup cut it off. He put the head on the pillow of the bed\nand drew the coverlid up about it and then it looked exactly as though\nthe witch girl were lying there asleep, but the body of her he popped\ninto the pot of boiling water. Then he climbed up on the roof and took\nthe fir tree stump and the stone with him.\n\nAnd now home came the old witch again and all her troll friends with\nher, and they were an ugly looking set all together.\n\nThey went stamping into the house and the old witch began to bawl for\nher daughter, but there was no answer. She looked about her and spied\nthe head there on the pillow with the covers drawn up about it. \"So\nthere you are!\" cried the old witch. \"Well, if you are too lazy to\nget up and eat your dinner, you will have to be content with what we\nleave.\" Then she picked up a big spoon and tasted the broth.\n\n    \"Good, by my troth,\n     Is Buttercup broth,\"\n\nsaid she, and smacked her lips.\n\n    \"Good, by my troth,\n     Is witch daughter broth,\"\n\nsang Buttercup out on the roof.\n\n\"Who was that?\" asked the witch.\n\n\"Oh, it was only a bird singing outside,\" said her husband, and he took\nthe spoon himself and tasted the broth.\n\n    \"Good, by my troth,\n     Is Buttercup broth,\"\n\nsaid he.\n\n    \"Good, by my troth,\n     Is witch daughter broth,\"\n\nsang Buttercup on the roof.\n\n\"There certainly is someone outside there mocking at us,\" said the old\nwitch, and she ran out to see.\n\nAs soon as she came out Buttercup threw the stump down on her and\nkilled her, and that was the end of her.\n\nThe witch's husband waited for a time, and when she did not come back\nhe went to call her, but as soon as he stepped outside Buttercup rolled\nthe big stone down on him, and that was an end of him.\n\nThe friends who had come to share the broth waited and waited for the\nwitch and her husband to come back, but after a time, as they did not,\nthe guests grew impatient and came out to look for them. When they saw\nthe two lying there dead they never stopped for the broth, but ran away\nas fast as they could go, and for all I know they may be running still.\n\nBut Buttercup climbed down from the roof, and hunted round in the house\nuntil he found where the witch kept her money chest all full of gold\nand silver money. Then he filled the sack with as much as he could\ncarry, and started home again. When he reached there you may guess\nwhether or not his mother was glad to see him. Then there was no more\npoverty for them, for the money in the sack was enough to make them\nrich for all their lives.\n\n\n\n\nTHE SUN AND THE MOON\n\n(_From Turkish Legends_)\n\n\nONCE upon a time the Sun made up his mind that he would like to get\nmarried. Far and near he journeyed, all over the round world and looked\nupon many fair maidens and princesses, but not one was beautiful enough\nto be his bride.\n\nAs he came home after his wanderings, he looked up at a window of the\npalace, and there sat his sister, the beautiful Helen, looking out. Her\nface, like the Sun's, was ruddy; her hair like his was as shining as\ngold. There was no one in all the world to compare with her in beauty.\n\n\"Come down and greet me, beautiful Helen,\" he cried, \"for you and you\nonly are worthy to be my bride.\"\n\nBut when the fair Helen heard this she was horrified. \"Such a thing\nmust not be,\" said she. \"A brother may not marry his sister, for that\nwould be an offense to heaven.\"\n\nThe Sun, however, would not listen to her; he was determined to make\nher his bride, and to this end he summoned the best workmen from all\nover the world, some to make magnificent robes, some to prepare a\nfeast, and gold and silver smiths and dealers in precious stones.\n\nThe beautiful Helen, however, wept and wept with grief.\n\nNow there was in the palace of the Sun an old nurse who had nursed both\nhim and his sister, and when she saw how, day after day, the beautiful\nHelen was melting away with grief, she said to her: \"Why should you\nbe so sad? You know how I love you, and that I have much knowledge of\nmagic. If you asked me perhaps I might help you.\"\n\n\"Oh, my dear nurse, do but save me from this marriage and you can ask\nof me nothing that I will not give you.\"\n\n\"Leave it to me; leave it to me,\" said the old woman. \"Are you not my\nnursling?\"\n\nSo the next time the Sun came to see his sister the old woman changed\nher into a little cake, and hid her under the ashes as if to bake.\n\nIn came the Sun and looked about him. \"Good nurse, I am tired and\nhungry,\" said he. \"Have you nothing here for me to eat?\"\n\n\"There is bread and wine yonder on the shelf.\"\n\n\"Nay, I know of something that suits me better than that,\" said the\nSun, and he uncovered the white cake that lay among the ashes and made\nas though to eat it.\n\n\"Oh, my brother, spare me!\" cried the cake.\n\n\"What!\" cried the Sun, pretending to be very much surprised. \"Can it be\nthat this is not a cake at all, but the beautiful Helen, who has taken\nthis form?\"\n\nThen Helen was obliged to take her own form again, and so beautiful did\nshe appear with the silvery ashes powdering her golden hair that the\nSun was more determined upon the marriage than ever.\n\nAfter he had gone, Helen began to reproach the nurse because her magic\nhad been of so little avail.\n\n\"Do not grieve to death because of that,\" said the old woman, \"for I\nhave better magic than that in my head. The next time the Sun comes to\nvisit you we will be in the garden and I will change you into a blade\nof grass, and among all the other blades he will be sure not to find\nyou.\"\n\nSo the next day the old woman and her nursling were sitting out in the\ngarden, and presently they knew, by the golden glow in the sky, that\nthe Sun was coming to look for his sister. Then the old nurse changed\nher into a blade of grass, and no one could have told her from all the\nother blades in the garden.\n\nOut came the Sun to where the old nurse sat, and looked about him. \"I\nhad thought to find the beautiful Helen here,\" said he.\n\n\"She was here a moment ago,\" answered the nurse, \"and had you come\nthen, you might have seen her.\"\n\n\"How green the grass is all about,\" said the Sun. \"Since she is not\nhere I will have a nibble of it.\"\n\nHe then changed himself into a lamb and began to nibble about.\nPresently he came to the tuft of grass where Helen was. Seeing that\nhis teeth were about to close upon her she cried out in a woeful voice,\n\"Alas, my brother, I have never harmed you; do not bite me, I beg of\nyou.\"\n\n\"Then do not try to escape me by any such tricks of magic,\" answered\nthe Sun. Thereupon he took back his natural shape, and the beautiful\nHelen was obliged to take her own shape, too.\n\nAfter he had gone away she began to weep and lament. \"If you can do no\nbetter than this with your magic the marriage will surely go on.\"\n\n\"Wait until to-morrow,\" answered the nurse. \"Then I will turn you into\na reed that grows beside the river. I am sure he will never think of\nlooking for you there.\"\n\nSo the next day at about the time when the Sun would be coming, the old\nnurse changed Helen into a reed beside the river, but she herself sat\nin the garden that the Sun might suspect nothing.\n\n[Illustration: \"HA!\" CRIED THE SUN. \"IS IT YOU, FAIR ONE?\"]\n\nAfter a while the Sun came out to look for his sister, but he found no\none but the old nurse sitting there all by herself. \"No matter,\" said\nthe Sun; \"I have a notion of making music for a while. I will go down\nto the river and cut a reed to make a pipe for myself.\"\n\nWhen the old nurse heard that she turned pale, but she did not dare to\nsay anything. The Sun went down to the river and she followed him. He\nwent straight to the reed that was the beautiful Helen, and drew his\nknife and set it at the root. Then the reed cried aloud in a doleful\nvoice: \"Alas, my brother, I have done you no harm. Do not slay me.\"\n\n\"Ha!\" cried the Sun, \"is it you, fair one? Now you see that all the\nmagic in the world cannot hide you from me, and to-morrow you shall be\nmy bride.\"\n\nAfter he had gone, the beautiful Helen turned to her nurse. \"Now I see\nthat magic can indeed avail me nothing,\" she said, \"and only heaven\nitself can save me.\"\n\nThe next day was to be the wedding, and when the beautiful Helen\nwas dressed in her bridal clothes she was as pale as ashes, but so\nbeautiful that the heart ached to look at her.\n\nThe Sun took her by the hand and led her into the church, and all the\ncandles were lighted and the priests and guests were there.\n\nThen the beautiful Helen called upon heaven to save her. Three times\nshe called, and at the third time all the lights went out, and a great\nwind swept through the church. The priests were terrified and the\nguests did not know which way to fly. As for the Sun he cried aloud\nwith rage and disappointment, for he felt that his beautiful bride was\ngone from his side. She had been carried up and away to where he could\nnever find her. Then she was changed into the moon, and ever since,\nstill and calm and bright she sails up the sky at night after the Sun\nhas gone to rest and holds the earth and sea under her gentle rule.\n\nSometimes she rises while he is still sinking toward the west. Red and\nangry he grows as he sees her rising above the horizon in her shining\nbeauty, but he cannot reach her, for the whole heaven is between them.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHOW THE ELEPHANT AND THE WHALE WERE TRICKED\n\n(_From Louisiana Creole Tales_)\n\n\nONE time the rabbit and the ground hog went out to walk together. The\nrabbit wore his blue coat with brass buttons, for it was a fine day,\nand cocked his hat gayly over one eye, but the ground hog was content\nwith his old fur overcoat, and galoshes to keep his feet dry.\n\nThey walked along until at last they came to the seashore, and there\nthey saw the elephant standing and talking to the whale. \"Look!\" said\nthe ground hog; \"that is a wonderful sight, for I reckon those are the\ntwo biggest animals in all the world.\"\n\n\"Let's go close and hear what they're talking about,\" said the rabbit.\n\n\"No, no,\" answered the ground hog. \"They might not like it, and if I'm\ngoing to be impolite I'd rather be impolite to animals that are more my\nown size.\"\n\nHowever, the rabbit was determined to know what two such big beasts\ntalked to each other about, so he stole up close to them unnoticed, and\nhid back of a clump of grass to listen.\n\n\"Of all the beasts that walk the earth not one is as great as I am,\"\nboasted the elephant. \"The ground trembles at my tread; the trees shake\nand the other animals are afraid and hide lest I should be angry with\nthem.\"\n\n\"True, brother,\" answered the whale. \"On the other hand, there is not\na fish in the sea that compares to me in size. I swallow hundreds at\none gulp, and when I lash the waters with my tail it is like a storm.\"\n\n\"And that is true, too,\" answered the elephant. \"Brother, how would it\nbe if we proclaimed ourselves kings of the earth and sea, and made all\nof the other fish and animals our subjects?\"\n\n\"That would be a fine scheme,\" the whale agreed, \"and then we would\nmake them pay us tribute.\"\n\nThe elephant was pleased with that idea, too. \"Good! good!\" he\ntrumpeted. \"That is what we will do.\"\n\nSo the two beasts talked together, each one praising himself and the\nother, and saying how great they were.\n\nThe rabbit listened until he could bear it no longer, and then he stole\nback to the ground hog, his whiskers trembling with rage.\n\n\"Well, what were they talking about?\" asked the ground hog.\n\n\"All their talk was of how great and powerful they were,\" answered the\nrabbit, \"and they say they will declare themselves kings and make us\npay tribute. But I will show them a thing or two before that.\"\n\n\"What will you show them?\" asked the other.\n\n\"I have thought of a trick to play upon them, and it is a trick that\nwill make them feel so silly they will forget all about making kings of\nthemselves.\"\n\nThe ground hog begged and entreated the rabbit not to think of such\na thing. The whale and the elephant were too big and powerful for a\nlittle rabbit to try to play a trick upon them, and if he did, they\nwould surely punish him. But the rabbit would not listen to him, and at\nlast the ground hog rose and buttoned up his overcoat. \"Well, I'm not\ngoing to get _myself_ into trouble,\" he said. \"I'm going home, I am,\nto look through the closets and get some tribute ready for them.\" So\nhome he ambled, and did not mind one bit when the rabbit called after\nhim that he was a coward.\n\nBut the rabbit made haste to the house of a neighbor to borrow a coil\nof rope he knew of, for that was the first thing he needed for his\ntrick.\n\nHe got the rope and came back and hid in some bushes by the roadside.\nPresently he saw the elephant come swinging up the road. He had\nfinished his talk with the whale and was now on his way home. He looked\nvery pleased with himself, and was smiling and idly breaking off the\nlittle trees with his trunk as he came.\n\nThe rabbit sprang out of the bushes with the coil of rope over his arm,\nand ran toward the elephant, shouting at the top of his lungs, \"Help,\nhelp!\"\n\nThe elephant stopped and looked at him with surprise. \"What is the\nmatter, Rabbit?\" he asked.\n\n\"My cow! My cow has fallen into the quicksands down by the sea, and no\none can get her out. Oh, dear good kind Master Elephant, if you would\nbut help me! You are so great and strong and wonderful that it would be\nnothing at all for you to pull her out.\"\n\nThe elephant was very much pleased with these compliments to his\nstrength. \"Yes, I will help you,\" he said good-naturedly. \"I am indeed\nvery great and powerful. Come! Show me where she is.\"\n\n\"No need of that,\" answered the sly rabbit. \"Do you stand here and hold\nthis end of the rope, and I will run and tie the other end around her\nhorns. When all is ready I will beat a drum. As soon as you hear that\nbegin to pull and you will have her out in a twinkling.\"\n\nThe elephant agreed to do this; he took hold of the end of the rope\nand stood there, waiting and thinking how strong he was, and how the\nanimals were obliged to come to him when they needed help.\n\nMeanwhile the rabbit ran down to the seashore with the other end of the\nrope. The whale was still there resting on the sand-bar, and thinking\nhow great and powerful _he_ was.\n\n\"Help! help!\" cried the rabbit as soon as he was near enough for the\nwhale to hear him.\n\nThe great creature turned, and looked at him lazily. \"What is the\nmatter, Rabbit?\" he asked.\n\n\"Oh, dear good Master Whale, I am in great trouble. My cow is stuck in\na marsh and no one on land is powerful enough to pull her out. But you\nare so strong and wonderful that it would mean nothing to you to get\nher out for me.\"\n\nThe whale was pleased at these words, but he said, \"I am quite willing\nto help you, but I do not see how I can do so. I cannot leave the sea\nnor travel on dry land.\"\n\n\"No need of that,\" answered the rabbit. \"I have tied the other end of\nthis rope around her horns. If you will but take hold of this end you\ncan pull her out in a twinkling.\"\n\nThe good-natured whale was very ready to do this. \"I must not pull too\nhard,\" he said, \"for so great is my strength that I might not only jerk\nher out of the marsh but all the way into the sea so that she would be\ndrowned.\"\n\n\"Yes, you must be careful about that,\" answered the rabbit, and then he\nran up into the bushes where he had hidden a drum and beat it loudly.\n\nAs soon as the elephant heard the drum he began to pull on the rope. At\nfirst he did not pull hard, for he thought it was an easy task he had\non hand. But the whale, holding the other end, started to swim out to\nsea, and the elephant found himself pulled down toward the shore. He\nwas very much surprised, but he tightened his hold and began to use his\nstrength.\n\nAnd now it was the turn of the whale to be dragged toward the shore.\n\"This will never do,\" he thought to himself, and he beat the waters,\nand swam with all his might, and the elephant began to lose ground.\n\nSo the two creatures strove together. First one was dragged along and\nthen the other. They thought they had never known of such a strong cow\nbefore. But the rabbit up in the bushes laughed and laughed until he\nthought his sides would split. He rolled upon the ground and the tears\nran down his furry cheeks, and still, the more the huge beasts strove\nand grunted, the harder he laughed.\n\nAt last the great elephant put forth all his strength. He dug his feet\ninto the solid ground and braced himself. The whale in the sea had\nnothing to brace itself against, and so at last it was pulled up on the\nshore. Then the elephant turned to see what sort of a cow it was that\nweighed so much, and there it was no cow at all, but his friend, the\nwhale, who lay there gasping and panting on the beach.\n\nThe elephant ran down to him, and the first thing he did was to push\nthe whale back into the water again. Then they began to talk and\nexplain to each other how it all happened. When they found what a trick\nthe rabbit put upon them they were furiously angry, and consulted as to\nhow they could best punish him.\n\n\"I,\" said the whale, \"shall send word to all the fish in streams and\nrivers, and tell them he must not be allowed to drink one drop of\nwater.\"\n\n\"And I,\" said the elephant, \"will send word to all the creatures on\nthe earth that he shall not be allowed to eat so much as one blade of\ngrass.\"\n\nAnd now the rabbit was in a bad way, indeed. If he went to the river\nto get a drink the fish and lobsters gathered in a crowd and drove him\naway. If he tried to eat, some animal or other was there to prevent\nhim. It seemed as though he must soon die of hunger and thirst. His\ntrick was like to cost him dear.\n\nHe was hopping along a path very sadly one day, with his ears drooping\nand all the spirit gone out of him, when he came across a dead deer\nthat had been torn by the dogs. The rabbit stopped and scratched his\near and thought a bit. Then he set to work and very neatly stripped off\nthe deerskin and drew it over his own body. Then he set out for the\nmain road, limping and uttering cries of pain as he went.\n\nPresently whom should he see but the elephant swinging along the road\ntoward him.\n\nThe rabbit cried out still louder, and made out as though he could\nscarcely drag himself along for his wounds.\n\n\"What has happened to you, friend Deer? And who has wounded you in this\nway?\" asked the elephant.\n\n\"Oh, that Rabbit! That Rabbit! And I was only doing as you told me.\"\n\n\"The Rabbit?\"\n\n\"Yes; oh, indeed good Master Elephant, he is very terrible. He came to\neat in the woods where I was and I tried to drive him away, because you\nhad told us all to do that, but as soon as I spoke to him, he threw me\ndown and beat me and almost tore me to pieces, as you see.\"\n\n\"That is strange,\" said the elephant. \"I did not know he was as strong\nas that.\"\n\n\"Oh, yes; he is small, but he knows much magic. No one could stand\nagainst him, not even you. And he is very angry. He says he is going\nto tear you to pieces too, and the whale, and he only left me alive so\nthat I might come and tell you.\"\n\n\"But he could not kill _me_!\" cried the elephant.\n\n\"His magic is very strong. I am afraid, now that he is angry, that he\nwill kill all the animals in the world, and keep it for himself.\"\n\nNow the elephant really began to be afraid. \"Oh, well, it was only a\njoke that the whale and I played on him. Go back and tell him so. Tell\nhim it was only a joke, and that I am not angry with him now. Then tell\nhim he may eat wherever he pleases, for I would not want to annoy such\na little animal as he is.\"\n\nSo the rabbit, still speaking like the deer, said he would, and,\nmoaning and limping, he turned and crawled back the way he had come.\nBut when he was safely out of sight, he fell down in the dust of the\nroad and laughed and laughed till he was sick with laughing.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHERRY\n\n(_From the English_)\n\n\nTHERE was once a poor laborer who had so many children that he was\nhardly able to buy food and clothing for them. For this reason, as soon\nas they grew old enough, they went out into the world to shift for\nthemselves. One after another they left their home, until at last only\nthe youngest one, Cherry by name, was left. She was the prettiest of\nall the children. Her hair was as black as jet, her cheeks as red as\nroses, and her eyes so merry and sparkling that it made one smile even\nto look at her.\n\nEvery few weeks one or another of the children who were out at service\ncame back to visit their parents, and they looked so much better fed,\nand so much better clothed than they ever had looked while they were\nat home that Cherry began to long to go out in the world to seek her\nfortune, too.\n\n\"Just see,\" she said to her mother; \"all my sisters have new dresses\nand bright ribbons, while I have nothing but the old patched frocks\nthey have outgrown. Let me go out to service to earn something for\nmyself.\"\n\n\"No, no,\" answered her mother. \"You are our youngest, and your father\nwould never be willing to have you go, and you would find it very\ndifferent out there in the world from here, where everyone loves you\nand cares for you.\"\n\nHowever, Cherry's heart was set upon going out to seek her fortune,\nand when she found her parents would never give their consent, she\ndetermined to go without it. She tied up the few clothes she had in a\nbig handkerchief, put on the shoes that had in them the fewest holes,\nand off she stole one fine morning without saying good-by to anyone but\nthe old cat that was asleep upon the step.\n\nAs long as she was within sight of the house she hurried as fast as she\ncould, for she was afraid her father or mother might see her and call\nher back, but when the road dipped down over a hill she walked more\nslowly, and took time to catch her breath and shift her bundle from one\nhand to the other.\n\nAt first the way she followed was well known to her, but after she\nhad traveled on for several hours she found herself in a part of the\ncountry she had never seen before. It was bleak and desolate with great\nrocks, and not a house in sight, and Cherry began to feel very lonely.\nShe longed to see her dear home again, with the smoke rising from the\nchimney and her mother's face at the window, and at last she grew so\nhomesick that she sat down on a rock and began to sob aloud.\n\n[Illustration: HE WAS RICHLY DRESSED AND LOOKED LIKE A FOREIGNER]\n\nShe had been sitting there and weeping for some time when she felt\na hand upon her shoulder. She looked up and saw a tall and handsome\ngentleman standing beside her. He was richly dressed and looked like\na foreigner, and there were many rings upon his fingers. It seemed so\nstrange to see him standing there close to her, when a little time\nbefore there had been no one in sight, that Cherry forgot to sob while\nshe stared at him. He was smiling at her in a friendly way, and his\neyes sparkled and twinkled so brightly that there never was anything\nlike it.\n\n\"What are you doing in such a lonely place as this, my child?\" said\nhe. \"And why are you weeping so bitterly?\"\n\n\"I am here because I started out to take service with someone,\"\nanswered Cherry; \"and I am weeping because it is so lonely, and I wish\nI were at home again;\" and she began to sob.\n\n\"Listen, Cherry,\" said the gentleman, once more laying his hand on her\nshoulder. \"I am looking for a kind, bright girl to take charge of my\nlittle boy. The wages are good, and if you like, you shall come with me\nand be his nurse.\"\n\nThis seemed a great piece of good luck to Cherry, for she was sure from\nthe gentleman's looks that he must be very rich as well as kind. She\nquickly wiped her eyes and told him she was more than willing to go\nwith him.\n\nAs soon as the stranger heard this he smiled again, and bidding her\nfollow him he turned aside into a little path among the rocks that\nCherry had not noticed before. At first this path was both rough and\nthorny, but the further they went the broader and smoother it grew, and\nalways it led down hill. After a while instead of thorns, flowering\nbushes bordered the path, and later still, trees loaded with such fruit\nas Cherry had never seen before. It shone like jewels, and smelled so\ndelicious that she longed to stop and taste it, but that her master\nwould not allow. There was no sunlight now, but neither were any clouds\nto be seen overhead. A soft, pale light shone over everything, making\nthe landscape seem like something seen in a dream.\n\nThe gentleman hurried her along, and when he saw she was growing tired\nhe took her hand in his and immediately all her weariness disappeared,\nand her feet felt so light it seemed as though she could run to the\nends of the earth.\n\nAfter they had gone a long, long way they came to a gate overhung with\nan arch of flowering vines. The garden within was filled with fruit\ntrees even more wonderful than those along the road, and through them\nshe could see a beautiful house that shone like silver.\n\nThe gentleman opened the gate, and immediately a little boy came\nrunning down the path toward them. The child was very small, but his\nface looked so strange and wise and old that Cherry was almost afraid\nof him.\n\nThe gentleman stooped and kissed him and said, \"This is my son,\" and\nthen they all three went up the path together.\n\nWhen they came near the house the door opened and a little, strange\nlooking old woman looked out. She was gnarled and withered and gray,\nand looked as though she might be a hundred.\n\n\"Aunt Prudence, this is the nurse I have brought home to look after the\nboy for us,\" said the gentleman.\n\nThe old woman scowled, and her eyes seemed to bore into Cherry like\ngimlets. \"She'll peep and pry, and see what shouldn't be seen. Why\ncouldn't you have been satisfied with one like ourselves for a nurse?\"\ngrumbled the old woman.\n\n\"It's best as it is,\" answered the gentleman in a low voice. \"Many a\none has sent her child to rest in a cradle there above, and they've\nbeen all the better for it.\"\n\nCherry did not know what he was talking about, but if she had been\nafraid of the child she was even more afraid of the old woman.\n\nAnd indeed in the next few days Aunt Prudence made the girl's life very\nunhappy. The gentleman gave Cherry full charge of the child, and seemed\nvery contented with her, but the old woman grumbled and scolded, and\nfound fault with everything she did.\n\nIt was Cherry's duty to bathe the child every morning, and after she\nhad washed him she was obliged to anoint his eyes with a certain\nointment that was kept in a silver box. \"And be very careful,\" said her\nmaster, sternly, \"that you never touch the least particle of it to your\nown eyes, for if you do, misfortune will certainly come upon you.\"\n\nCherry promised that she would not, but she felt very curious\nabout this ointment. She was sure it must have some very wonderful\nproperties, for always after she had rubbed the child's eyes with it\nthey looked stranger and brighter than ever, and she was sure he saw\nthings that she could not see. Sometimes he would seem to join in\ngames invisible to her, and sometimes he would suddenly leave her and\nrun down a path to meet someone, though as far as she could see not a\nliving soul was there. But if Cherry asked him any questions he would\nbecome quite silent, and look at her sideways in a strange way.\n\nThere were doors in the house that Cherry was forbidden to open, and\nshe used to wonder and wonder what was behind them. Once she saw her\nmaster come out from one of the rooms beyond, but he shut the door\nquickly behind him, and she caught no glimpse of what was within.\n\nHowever, she was very comfortable there--well-fed, well-clothed and\nwell-paid, and she would have been quite happy if it had not been for\nAunt Prudence. Instead of growing kinder to her as time went on, the\nold woman grew crosser and crosser. She was always scolding, and her\ntongue was so sharp that she often made Cherry weep bitterly, and\nwish she was at home again, or any place but there. Once when she was\nsobbing to herself in the garden, her master came to her. \"Cherry,\"\nhe said, \"I see that you and Aunt Prudence can never live in peace\ntogether, and I am going to send her away for a while, but if I do, you\nmust promise to do nothing that might displease me.\"\n\nCherry promised, and after that the old woman disappeared, and the girl\ndid not know what had become of her.\n\nCherry was now very happy. Her master was never cross with her, and\nthe child was very obedient, and if he did not ever laugh, neither did\nhe ever weep. She helped her master in the garden very often, and when\nshe had done very well he would sometimes kiss her and call her a good\nchild and then she was happier than ever.\n\nBut one time he went away for a few days, and Cherry seemed quite alone\nin the house except for the child, for the other servants she had never\nseen. The little boy went out to play in the garden, and suddenly\nCherry began to feel so curious as to what was back of the forbidden\ndoors that it seemed as though she would die if she did not look. She\ntried to think of other things, and to remember how displeased her\nmaster would be if she opened the doors, but at last she could bear it\nno longer. She would just see what was behind one of them, and then she\nwould look no further. But first she made sure that the little boy was\nstill at play in the garden. He was sitting on the edge of a fountain,\nlooking down into it, and suddenly he waved his hand and called out as\nthough to something in the water.\n\nThen Cherry opened the door and slipped through.\n\nShe found herself in a long hall entirely of marble. The floor, the\nceilings and walls all were of blocks of marble, black and white, and\nranged up and down it were many marble statues. Some were the figures\nof beautiful women, some were of princes with crowns upon their heads\nor of young men magnificently dressed. She went slowly down the hall,\nstaring and wondering, and at the very end she came upon Aunt Prudence,\nbut it was an Aunt Prudence turned into marble, and scowling at her\nwith marble, unseeing eyes. When she saw that, Cherry knew that she was\nin fairyland, and that her master had by his magic powers turned the\nold woman into this shape to quiet her scolding tongue.\n\nShe was terrified, for she was afraid that, as her master was a fairy,\nhe would know that she had disobeyed him, and she went out quickly and\nclosed the door behind her. However, when the gentleman came home that\nevening he was as kind and pleasant as ever, so she made sure that he\nknew nothing of what she had done.\n\nBut there was one thing Cherry was even more curious about than she\nhad been about the doors, and that was about the ointment she rubbed\nupon the child's eyes. Every day, more and more, she longed to rub her\nown eyes with it and try whether she, too, would not see invisible\nthings. But beside her fear of disobeying her master the child's eyes\nwere always upon her while she had the box open, and as soon as she had\nrubbed his eyes and closed it she was obliged to give it to him, and\nshe never could tell what he did with it or where he put it.\n\nOne morning, however, just after she had rubbed his eyes, and before\nshe had washed her hands, she made out she had dropped the box by\naccident, and when she stooped to pick it up she managed to rub one eye\nwith a finger that had a little ointment upon it. The child did not see\nwhat she had done, but when Cherry looked about her what a wonderful\nchange had come over the garden. Where all had seemed lonely and silent\nbefore, were crowds of little people playing around or going seriously\nabout their business. They swung in the flower bells, they climbed the\nblades of grass. They spun ropes of cobweb, or sat in groups among the\nroots of trees, talking together and nodding their wise little heads.\nBut when she looked down into the fountain she saw the strangest sight\nof all, for there was her master, dressed just as he had been when he\nsaid good-by to her that morning, but now he was no longer than her\nhand, and riding a fish that he drove round and round in the water with\na tiny whip. Cherry looked and looked, but her master never looked up\nnor noticed her. He played round with the fishes for quite a while and\nthen suddenly disappeared. A moment after, the gate clicked, and when\nCherry looked up there he was coming in, as tall as ever, and with not\na hair of him wet.\n\nHe was often away after this and on one of these times Cherry\ndetermined to look into the marble room again.\n\nShe made sure that the child was outside and playing around with the\nother fairies, and then she stole to the forbidden door and softly\nopened it a crack. As soon as she did this, she heard a sound of\npleasant music. She peeped in and what a wonderful sight she saw! The\nstone ladies and gentlemen had all come to life, and were dancing there\nto the music. They moved and smiled and bowed to each other, and at the\nhead of the dance was her master with the loveliest lady of them all as\nhis partner. While Cherry looked, the dance came to an end and he led\nthe lady to a seat, but before she sat down he kissed her.\n\nWhen Cherry saw that, she closed the door and ran away to her room, and\nthere she began to sob and cry; she was so jealous over what she had\nseen that it seemed as though her heart would burst.\n\nThat afternoon her master came again as kind and smiling as ever, but\nCherry would hardly look at him or answer anything he said. Presently\nhe asked her to come out into the garden and help him with the\nflowers, and this she did, though she was still very moody.\n\nThey worked there for quite a while, and then when they had finished\neverything there was to be done, her master said, \"You are a good\nchild, Cherry,\" and kissed her.\n\nCherry pushed him away and began to sob again. \"Why do you kiss me?\"\nshe cried. \"You don't care for anybody but your beautiful lady. If you\nwant to kiss anybody, go kiss her.\"\n\nWhen her master heard that, his face changed, and he looked at her\nso angrily that Cherry was frightened. \"So you have been prying!\" he\ncried, \"and Aunt Prudence was right when she warned me not to trust\nyou. Now that you have seen what you have seen, you can stay here no\nlonger.\"\n\n\"Oh, do not send me away,\" Cherry begged of him. \"Let me stay and I\npromise that I will never disobey you again.\"\n\n\"I am sorry, Cherry,\" her master answered, and he no longer looked\nangry, \"but after this, they would not let me keep you.\" With that he\nraised his hand and gave her a sharp box on the ears, and she lost all\nconsciousness.\n\nWhen she came to herself she was sitting on the doorstep of her own\nhome and her mother was shaking her by the shoulder and calling her.\n\nCherry started up and looked about her. \"Where--where is he?\" she\ncried. \"How did I come here, and what has become of my master?\"\n\nHer mother did not know what she was talking about, and when after a\nlittle, Cherry began and told her all her story, she thought the child\nwas dreaming or had lost her wits. But when later on she found that the\ngirl's pockets were full of fairy gold, enough to make them rich for\nyears, she was obliged to believe that the story was true, wonderful\nas it was.\n\nBut for a long time after she came home, Cherry used to trudge away to\nthe lonely heath every now and then, and sit there hoping her master\nwould come for her. But he never did, and never again did she find a\nplace where the wages were in gold and paid as freely as they had been\nin fairyland.\n\n\n\n\nDIAMONDS AND ROSES AND PEARLS\n\n(_From the French Tales_)\n\n\nA WIDOW had two daughters of whom the elder was exactly like herself,\nwith thick brown skin, hair as coarse as horse-hair and a loose,\nhanging mouth. She was as cross-tempered as she was ugly, but because\nshe resembled her mother, the widow loved her dearly, and declared her\nthe most beautiful creature in the world.\n\nThe younger sister was very different. Her skin was like peaches and\ncream, her hair was golden, and her eyes as blue as the sky. She was\nas sweet-tempered as the other was ill-natured, but her mother hated\nher so, that she could hardly bear the sight of her, and had nothing\nfor her but blows and hard words.\n\nWhile the mother and the elder sister feasted upon dainties the Fair\nOne had only scraps to eat, and not enough of those, and all the hard\ntasks of the household were laid upon her shoulders. In spite of all\nthis ill treatment, however, she grew in beauty every day like a\nflower. Her figure remained round and soft, and after she had finished\nscouring the pots and pans she would wash her hands and they would be\nas white as a lily. Seeing this, the mother and sister were ready to\ndie with envy. They washed their hands with perfumed water, and dried\nthem on silken napkins, but they still remained as rough and horny as\ntoads.\n\nOne day the mother bade the younger sister go to a spring that was\nsome distance away in a forest, and bring water for her sister to bathe\nin. She gave her an earthen pitcher that was so heavy the young girl\ncould hardly carry it. \"And do not spill any of the water by the way or\nyou shall be punished,\" cried the mother.\n\n[Illustration: SHE LIFTED THE HEAVY PITCHER FOR HER TO DRINK]\n\nThe young girl hurried away, glad to be out of the house and away from\nthe scolding tongues, even though it were but for a little while. She\nwould have liked to linger by the way to listen to the birds, and to\ngather some of the flowers that bloomed on every side, but she knew\nthat if she were late in returning, she would be beaten for it.\n\nWhen she reached the fountain she quickly filled her pitcher, but she\nwas so sad that, as she stooped above the water, the tears ran down her\ncheeks and fell into it like raindrops.\n\n\"Poor child, you are very sad, but remember you are not the only\nunfortunate one upon this earth,\" said a hoarse, cracked voice\nbehind her.\n\nTurning quickly, the Fair One saw, seated upon a rock close by, an old\nwoman so bent, so wrinkled, and so hideously ugly that the young girl\nwas frightened by her looks. However, she tried to hide her fear and\nspoke to the crone civilly. She was then about to go on her way, but\nthe old woman stopped her. \"My daughter,\" she said, \"I am thirsty, but\nmy old bones are too stiff for me to stoop to drink from the fountain.\nWill you not give me some water from your pitcher?\"\n\n\"Willingly, mother,\" answered the girl in a sweet voice, and\napproaching the old woman she lifted the heavy pitcher for her to\ndrink. She held it carefully until the stranger had quenched her\nthirst, and then returned to the fountain to refill it.\n\n\"Daughter, you have obliged one who is not only able but willing to\nreward you,\" said the old woman. \"Your sweet temper is a dower greater\nthan any I can give you, but this you shall have beside. When you\nspeak, roses and pearls shall drop from your lips, and your tears shall\nbe changed to diamonds as they fall.\"\n\nThe girl thought the old woman must be out of her wits, for it was\nquite impossible that such a thing as that should happen to anyone, and\nbidding her good-day as quickly as she could, she hurried away with her\nbrimming pitcher.\n\nWhen she reached home her mother met her at the door with scowls and\nreproaches.\n\n\"Lazy wretch,\" she cried, lifting her hand, \"you have been gone twice\nas long as was necessary. You have been loitering and amusing yourself\nby the way,\" and she seemed about to beat her.\n\n\"Pardon me, I beg of you,\" cried the young girl. \"Indeed I hurried all\nI could, but I feared to spill the water by the way.\"\n\nThe mother's hand dropped, and she stared down at the floor with open\nmouth and starting eyes; for every word the girl spoke, a rose or a\npearl fell from her lips and showered upon the floor of the house.\n\nThe mother gave a cry of greed and stooped to gather up the pearls. The\nflowers she allowed to remain where they were.\n\n\"What is it? What has happened?\" cried the ugly sister, pressing\nforward.\n\n\"Silence!\" cried the mother, speaking angrily to the ugly one for the\nfirst time in her life. \"Her words are worth more than yours.\" Then she\nstood up again. \"Speak! Speak!\" she cried to the younger sister, and as\nshe did not immediately do this, the mother struck her to make her be\nquicker in her speech.\n\nFrightened and bewildered, the young girl burst into tears, but, as the\ntear drops fell from her eyes, they were changed by the fairy spell,\nand reached the floor as glittering diamonds, that rolled about this\nway and that.\n\n\"It is magic!\" cried the mother, delighted. \"Tell me, my daughter, how\nhas this happened? Whom did you meet while you were away?\"\n\n\"I met no one,\" answered her daughter, \"but an old woman by the\nfountain, who asked me for a drink of water. I gave it to her, and\nthen she told me that roses and pearls should fall from my lips when I\nspoke, and my tears be changed to diamonds, but I did not believe her,\nfor who could believe such a thing as that?\"\n\n\"It was a fairy,\" cried the mother. Then she turned to the elder\ndaughter, her eyes glistening with greed. \"Quick!\" she cried. \"Take the\nsilver pitcher, for it is the best we have in the house, and take also\nsome of those cream cakes that have just been baked. Go to the fountain\nand look for the old woman, and when you see her offer her the cream\ncakes and draw for her a drink from the fountain. If she gave your\nsister such a gift in return for a drink from the earthen pitcher, how\nmuch more will she not do for you when you serve her from silver?\"\n\nThe elder girl, who was very lazy, began to grumble. It was far to the\nfountain; the pitcher was heavy; why should she go when all they had to\ndo was to gather up the diamonds and pearls that her sister scattered\nabout.\n\nThe mother, however, would not listen to her. She put the cream cakes\nin her pocket, the pitcher in her hand, and pushed her gently from the\ndoor, bidding her hurry or the old woman might have disappeared.\n\nThe lazy girl went lagging down the road, swinging her pitcher as she\nwent, and now and then stopping to pick up stones and throw them at the\nbirds that sang on either hand. It took her twice as long as it had\ntaken her sister to get to the fountain. When at last she reached it,\nthere was no one there.\n\n\"At least I shall not have to draw any water,\" said the girl. Then\nshe sat down in the shade and began to eat the cream cakes. She was\nmunching and munching when she saw a tall and beautiful lady coming\ntoward her through the forest. The stranger was as tall and stately as\na queen, and was magnificently dressed, and, like a queen, she wore a\ngolden crown upon her head. She was really a powerful fairy, and it\nwas she who, in the shape of an old woman, had talked with her younger\nsister beside the fountain. She had now resumed her own shape, and the\nlazy one never guessed that this bright stranger and the old woman she\nhad come to seek, were one and the same.\n\nThe fairy came near, and looked down at the girl with a frown, for the\nlazy one neither moved nor spoke, but only stared up at her with her\nmouth full of cream cake.\n\n\"I see you have a pitcher,\" said the fairy, \"and as I am very thirsty,\nwill you not draw some water in it for me to drink?\"\n\nThe lazy girl took time to swallow the last piece of cream cake, and\nthen she answered rudely, \"I am not your servant. If you want water,\ndraw it for yourself.\"\n\nThen as it seemed there was no chance of the old woman's returning, she\nrose and shook the crumbs from her skirt and prepared to go.\n\n\"Wait!\" said the fairy sharply as she was turning away. \"The words that\nfall from your lips are like evil things, and as evil things shall they\nappear. For every word you utter a spider or adder shall fall from your\nlips until you have learned to speak in a proper and gentle manner.\"\n\nHaving so spoken, the fairy vanished, floating away through the forest\nlike a rosy cloud. The girl shrugged her shoulders and started homeward\nwith her empty pitcher.\n\nEven before she reached the house, the mother came running to meet her\nand embraced her tenderly. \"Did you see the old woman? And did she lay\nher spell upon you? Speak, my beautiful one, and let me gather up the\ntreasures that fall from your lips.\"\n\nThe daughter pushed her away crossly. \"Be quiet,\" she said. \"I saw no\nold woman, and all I got for my pains is a----\"\n\nThe mother started back with a shriek of dismay; for every word her\ndaughter had spoken, a spider or an adder had fallen from her lips.\n\n\"What is this!\" she cried, wringing her hands. \"What evil spell has\nbeen laid upon my precious beauty?\"\n\n\"I do not know,\" answered the frightened girl. Then as she saw more\nspiders fall from her lips she began to bawl aloud in her wrath and\nterror.\n\n\"It is all the fault of your sister, the hussy!\" cried the mother.\n\"Not another night shall she spend in the house to bring fresh\nmisfortunes on us.\"\n\nShe ran back home and began to beat the girl. Then she thrust her from\nthe door.\n\n\"Go, go!\" she cried, \"and never let me see your face again.\"\n\nFrightened and weeping, the poor girl ran away into the forest, and as\nshe went, the diamonds she shed marked the way she had gone. They lay\namong the grasses sparkling like dewdrops, and lucky were those who\nnext came by that way; a whole fortune lay there at their feet.\n\nThe Fair One wandered on and on through the forest until she was\ncompletely lost and did not know which way to turn. It began to grow\ndark, and she was terrified at the thought that soon the wild beasts\nwould begin to leave their lairs. She met no one, and there seemed\nnothing for her to do but climb a tree and prepare to spend the\nnight in the forest, when suddenly she heard a sound of voices and\nthe trampling of horses. Presently the riders came breaking through\nthe bushes. They were magnificently dressed, and at their head rode\none, handsomer and more magnificent than them all. It was the young\nprince of that country, who was returning late from a hunt, with his\nattendants.\n\nWhen he saw the young girl he reined in his steed and gazed at her with\nwonder. Never before had he seen such beauty; it seemed to shine around\nher like a soft light.\n\n\"Who are you and whence come you, O Fair One?\" he asked.\n\n\"I am a poor girl who has neither home nor shelter,\" she answered him,\nand as she spoke, roses and pearls fell from her lips.\n\nThe prince was overcome with admiration. \"Never have I seen beauty to\ncompare with yours,\" he cried. \"Come back with me to the palace, I pray\nof you, for unless you consent to be my bride I vow that I will never\nmarry.\"\n\nBlushing, the Fair One allowed him to place her on the horse before\nhim, for it seemed to her she had never seen anyone, at once so\nhandsome and so kind, before. So he carried her home with him to the\npalace, and when they saw her the old king and queen were amazed at her\nbeauty and sweetness. But when they saw the treasure that fell from her\nlips whenever she spoke, they gladly gave permission for her marriage\nwith their son.\n\nTo celebrate it, a magnificent feast was prepared, and people were\ninvited to come to it from far and near. The Fair One, who was very\nkind and forgiving, begged that her mother and sister might be invited,\ntoo. The prince could refuse her nothing, and so the invitation was\nsent.\n\nNo sooner was it received than there was a great commotion and\nexcitement at the house of the cruel mother. She and the sister bought\nfine dresses and jewels and feathers that only served to set off their\nill looks. Last of all, they stepped into a coach drawn by four black\nhorses and drove away to the palace. There everything was mirth and\nrejoicing, and the widow and her daughter bowed and smirked with the\nbest of them. But when they entered the grand hall where the king\nand queen sat, and saw that the prince's bride was no other than the\nyounger sister, and that she, too, sat upon a throne with a crown upon\nher head, they were so filled with envy and spite that they burst.\n\nBut the prince married the Fair One and they lived happy ever after,\nbeloved by the king and queen and all their people.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE THREE COWS\n\n(_From the Irish_)\n\n\nTHERE was once a poor widow who had one son named Barney, and some said\nhe was as sharp a lad as one would care to meet, and some said he was\nnot much better than a simpleton.\n\nOne day his mother said to him, \"My son, bad luck is close after us\nthese days. There is no food in the house, and soon the landlord will\nbe coming for our rent. Take our white cow (for she is the poorest of\nthe three), and drive her over to the fair, and sell her to the one\nwho will give the best price for her.\"\n\nBarney was more than willing to do this, for it was better fun to go to\nthe fair than to work. He brushed his clothes and cocked his hat, and\noff he started in a fine humor, driving the white cow before him.\n\nThe sun was not yet high and the dew lay thick on the hedgerows; birds\nsang on either side of the road, and Barney whistled to himself for\nvery joy of life.\n\nAfter a while he came to a stile, and sitting on the top of the stile\nwas a little man scarce two feet high; he was dressed all in green and\na red cap was lying beside him.\n\n\"Good morning to you, Barney,\" said the little man.\n\nBarney answered him politely as his mother had taught him, but he\nwondered how under the bright sun the stranger happened to know that\nhis name was Barney.\n\n\"And how much do you think you'll get for the white cow at the fair?\"\n\nThen Barney wondered still more that the little man should know his\nbusiness as well as his name. \"My mother told me to get the best price\nI could,\" he answered.\n\n\"The best price may be neither gold nor silver. Wait a bit and I'll\nshow you a thing or two worth seeing.\"\n\nThe little man reached down into a deep pocket in his coat, and drew\nout a tiny harp and a tiny stool. These he set upon the top step of the\nstile in the sunlight. Then he reached down in his pocket again and\ndrew out a cockchafer. The cockchafer was dressed in a tiny long-tailed\ncoat and breeches, and the moment the little man set him on the stile,\nhe drew the stool up in front of the harp and began to try the strings\nand tune them up.\n\nWhen Barney saw this he was so pleased that he let out a whoop of joy.\n\n\"Wait a bit, for the story is not yet half told,\" said the little man\nin green. He then drew out a mouse dressed as a gentleman of quality,\nand a bumblebee in a flowered silk skirt and overdress. The cockchafer\nbegan to play a tune, the mouse bowed to the bumblebee, she courtesied\nto him and the brindled cow he was driving before him, and at sound of\nthe gay music, Barney threw back his head and laughed and laughed; his\nfeet began to jig it, the hat bounced on his head, and the very cow\nherself jumped about and waved her tail gayly.\n\nAfter Barney had danced and laughed himself weak, the tune came to an\nend; the dancers stopped to rest, and Barney and the cow, too, stood\nstill.\n\n\"Well, and what do you think of that?\" asked the little man.\n\n\"I think it's a better sight than any I'll be after seeing at the fair.\"\n\n\"Listen now,\" the little man went on. \"It's needing a good cow I am.\nThe truth is that those who live under the hill have sent me out to buy\none, and if you like, I will give you the little harp and the musician\nfor your white cow.\"\n\nBarney looked, and wished and scratched his head. \"It's not the sort of\nprice my mother thought I'd be after getting,\" he said.\n\n\"It's a price that will be worth more than gold and silver to you in\nthe end,\" said the little man.\n\nWell, the end of it was that Barney gave him the cow and received in\nexchange the harp, the stool, and the little cockchafer. He took out\nhis handkerchief and wrapped them up in it very carefully, and when he\nlooked about again the little man and Whitey had disappeared entirely.\nThere was no sign of them anywhere.\n\n\"And that's a curious thing, too,\" said Barney to himself, and then he\nset out for home.\n\nWhen he came within sight of the house, his mother was at the window\nwatching for him, and she came out to meet him.\n\n\"I see you sold the cow,\" she said. \"And how much did you get for it?\"\n\n\"Come inside and I'll show you.\"\n\nThey went into the house and Barney dusted off the table; then he\nuntied his handkerchief and put the harp, the stool, and the little\nmusician upon it. The cockchafer made a bow to Barney's mother; then he\nseated himself and began to play, and if Barney had laughed before he\nroared with pleasure now. The old woman, too, began to laugh and that\nwas what she had not done for many a year before. She laughed till the\ntears ran down her face, and then she dropped into a chair and laughed\nsome more.\n\nBut, when at last the tune came to an end, the old woman wiped her eyes\nand began to come to herself. Then she remembered the cupboard was\nstill bare, and the rent still due the landlord in spite of all the gay\ndoings.\n\n\"You worthless lout!\" she cried to her son. \"Is that what you sold the\ncow for? How do you expect us to fill our stomachs and pay the landlord\nwith such nonsense as that?\"\n\nBarney had no answer to make, for he did not know.\n\nWell, the money must be had, and the next morning, Barney's mother sent\nhim off to the fair again, and this time it was the brindled cow he\nwas driving before him and it was a much finer and larger cow than old\nWhitey had been.\n\nWhen he came near the stile he kept looking and looking to see whether\nthe little man in green was there, but it was not until the lad came\nquite close to it that he saw him. There sat the small one on the top\nstep in the sunlight, with his red cap lying beside him.\n\n\"And how did your mother like the price you got for old Whitey?\" asked\nthe small man.\n\n\"Little enough; and the thanks are owing to you for the scolding I got.\"\n\n\"Never mind! She'll be thankful enough some day for the price I paid\nyou. Is the brindled cow for sale, too?\"\n\n\"Not to you,\" answered Barney.\n\n\"Ah, Barney, Barney! I'm after thinking you must be the simpleton some\nfolk call you. There's no one can pay you such a good price as I offer.\nIf you had but this gay gentleman of a mouse to dance to the music your\nmother would be fit to split her sides with laughter; and you may have\nhim for your own in exchange for that cow.\"\n\nNo, Barney would not listen to such a thing, but the little man coaxed\nand wheedled, until at last Barney gave him the cow, and took the\nlittle mouse in exchange for it.\n\nWhen he reached home, his mother was on the lookout for him.\n\n\"How much money did you get for the cow?\" she asked.\n\nBarney made no answer to this, but he untied his handkerchief, and let\nthe little mouse step out on the table. It had a cocked hat under its\narm, and with its claws on its hip, he made a grand bow to the old\nwoman. She could do nothing but stare and grin with admiration. Then\nBarney put the cockchafer and the harp on the table too, and as soon\nas it had tuned up, it began to play, and the tune was so gay that the\nvery heart danced in the bosom. The mouse began to dance and twirl and\njig up and down, and Barney and his mother stood and laughed until they\nalmost split their sides.\n\nBut after the tune was all played out, the old woman came to herself\nagain; an angry soul was she. She fell to crying just as hard as she\nhad laughed before, for the white cow was gone, and the brindled cow\nwas gone, and the landlord no nearer to being paid than he had been two\ndays before.\n\nBut the money they must have, and there was nothing for it but that\nBarney must set off the next day for the fair with the red cow, and she\nwas the finest of the three.\n\nHe trudged along, driving it before him, and after a while he came to\nthe stile, and there was the little man in green seated on it.\n\n\"Good-day to you, Barney,\" said he.\n\nBarney answered never a word.\n\n\"That's a fine cow you have there.\"\n\nBarney trudged along as though he had not heard him, and never so much\nas turned his head.\n\n\"Nay, but wait a bit, friend Barney,\" went on the little man. \"We have\nmade two bargains, and now we ought to make the third, for there's luck\nin odd numbers--or so people say.\"\n\nBarney would have walked on if he could, but when the little man said,\n\"Wait a bit,\" it seemed as though he were rooted to the ground, and he\ncould not stir a step, however he tried.\n\nThen the small one began to beg and plead with him to let him have the\ncow in exchange for the bumblebee, and for a long time Barney said no.\nAt last, however, he could refuse no longer; the trade was made, and no\nsooner had the lad agreed and taken the bumblebee in his handkerchief,\nthan--pouff! whisk! the small man and the cow both disappeared like\nthe breath from a window-pane.\n\nBarney stared and wondered, and then he turned home again, but the\nnearer he came to the house the slower he walked, for he had some\nnotion as to what his mother would have to say about the bargain he had\nmade.\n\nWell, things turned out just about as he had thought they would. When\nhe first put the bumblebee and the others on the kitchen table, when\nthe cockchafer began to play and the others to dance, his mother\nlaughed and laughed as she had never laughed before in all her life.\nBut when they stopped and she had come to herself again, she was so\nangry she was not content with scolding. She caught up a broom, and if\nBarney had not run out and hidden in the cow byre he would have had a\nclubbing that would have dusted his coat for him.\n\nHowever, what was done was done, and what they were to do now to get\nfood and money was more than either of them could say. However, the\nnext morning, Barney had a grand scheme in his head.\n\n\"Listen, mother; I have a scheme that may bring us in a few pennies,\"\nhe said. \"I will take the cockchafer, the mouse and the bumblebee with\nme to the fair to-day. When we are there the cockchafer shall play the\nharp and the mouse and the bumblebee shall dance, and it may be that\nthe people will be so pleased with their tricks that they will give me\nsome pennies.\"\n\nThere seemed nothing better to do than this, so the widow gave her\nconsent, and off Barney set, and if his heart was light his stomach was\nlighter for he had had nothing to put in it that morning.\n\nHe trudged along and trudged along, and after a time he came to the\nstile, and there was the little green man sitting on it just as he had\nsat before.\n\n\"Good-day, Barney,\" said he.\n\n\"Good-day, and bad luck to you,\" answered Barney. \"It was an ill trick\nyou played upon me when you took from me our three cows, and gave me\nonly such nonsense as I carry here in my pocket.\"\n\n\"Barney,\" said the little man, and he spoke solemnly, \"never again in\nall your life will you make as good a bargain as you made with me. I\ntell you now for a truth that the price I paid you shall be the making\nof you.\"\n\n\"And how will that be?\" asked Barney.\n\n\"That is what I came here to tell you,\" said the little man. \"It is no\ndoubt well-known to you that the king of Erin has a daughter.\"\n\n\"It is that,\" answered Barney.\n\n\"But it may not also be known to you that this princess is so beautiful\nthat there never was anything like it seen in all the world before,\nand that she is also as sad as she is beautiful. It is feared, indeed,\nthat unless something happens to cheer her she will grieve her life\naway. Therefore, the king, her father, has promised that whoever can\nmake her laugh three times shall have her for his wife.\"\n\n\"But what have I to do with all that?\" asked Barney.\n\n\"You have this to do with it, that you may be the lad to raise the\nlaugh and to have her for a wife, and it is with the cockchafer, the\nmouse and the bumblebee that you shall do it.\"\n\n\"And that's the truth!\" cried Barney slapping his leg, \"for sure\nthere's never a soul in all the world that could see those creatures at\ntheir tricks and keep a sober face on him.\"\n\nThe little man then told him exactly how he was to proceed and act, and\nBarney listened till he had made an end of all he had to say, and then\npouff! he vanished, and Barney saw him no more.\n\nHe now turned his face away from the fair and toward where the palace\nlay, and off he set, one foot before the other, as fast as he could go.\n\nAfter a long journey he came to the place he wished to go, and a very\ngrand fine palace it was when he reached it. But in front of it there\nwas a strange sight, and one that Barney had no liking for; for there\nin front of the door were twelve tall stakes, and upon eleven of these\nstakes were eleven heads, but upon the twelfth stake there was no head.\n\nHowever, Barney did not stay there long looking at it, for he had other\nbusiness on hand than that.\n\nHe marched up to the palace door and rapped upon it loudly with his\nstick. In a moment it opened and there stood a man, all in gold lace,\nlooking out at him. \"What do you want here?\" he asked.\n\n\"I have come to see the princess and to make her laugh,\" answered\nBarney as bold as brass.\n\n\"You have a hard task before you,\" said the man. \"However, I am not the\none to say you nay, and I will go and tell the king you are here.\"\n\nHe went away and then presently he came back again and the king was\nwith him.\n\nThe king looked Barney up and down and then he said, \"You are a fine\nstout lad, but I misdoubt me you are not the one to make the princess\nlaugh. However, you may try it if you like, but first you must know the\nconditions. You must make her laugh three times before you can have\nher for a wife, and if you fail your head will be cut off and set upon\na stake, for so the princess has made me promise it shall be.\" The\nking further told him that eleven stout lads had already lost their\nheads,--\"and there they are to prove it,\" he said, and he pointed to\nthe stakes before the palace door.\n\nBarney looked, and saw again that the twelfth had nothing on it, and he\nliked the looks of it even less than before, for it seemed to him it\nwould fit his head exactly.\n\nHowever, he was not one to turn back. \"Your majesty, I will try it\nwhether or no.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" said the king; \"and when will you try?\"\n\n\"Now,\" said Barney; \"in a moment.\"\n\nHe then took out the cockchafer, the mouse and the bumblebee and tied\nthem all together with a long string, one in front of the other, and\nset them on the floor and took the end of the string in his hand.\n\nWhen the king saw that, he began to laugh, and the man in gold lace\nbegan to laugh. They laughed and laughed until the tears ran down their\ncheeks and they had to wipe them away.\n\n\"After all,\" said the king, \"you may be the one to win the princess\nfor a wife.\" With that they set off down a long hall, the king first,\nand the man in gold lace next, and, last of all, Barney with the three\nlittle creatures following.\n\nAt the end of this hall was a grand fine room with a grand fine throne\nin it, and upon this throne sat the princess, and she was looking very\nsad. All her ladies that stood around looked sad too, for that was the\npolite thing for them to do when she was sorrowful.\n\nWhen the princess saw the king she frowned; and when she saw the man in\ngold lace she scowled. But when she saw Barney in all his tags and rags\nholding one end of the string, and the three little creatures hopping\nalong behind him, first she smiled and then she grinned, and then she\nthrew back her head and let out such a laugh you could have heard it a\nmile away.\n\n\"That's one!\" cried Barney.\n\nThen he untied the little creatures and called for a table and set\nthem upon it, and he drew out the harp and stool and gave it to the\ncockchafer. It seated itself and tuned the harp, while the princess and\nall her ladies stared and stared. Then it began to play and the mouse\nand the bumblebee began to dance; you'd have thought they'd had wings\nto their feet.\n\nAt that the princess let out a laugh that was twice as loud as the\nother.\n\n\"Thank you, princess,\" said Barney, \"that's two.\"\n\nAt that the princess stopped laughing and looked as glum as the grave.\nThe cockchafer played, the others danced, faster and faster, but not a\nthird laugh could they get out of the princess, and it seemed as though\nBarney were to lose his head after all. But the little mouse saw as\nwell as Barney what was like to happen, and all of a sudden he whirled\naround and brought his tail, whack! across the bumblebee's mouth.\nThat set the bumblebee to coughing. It coughed and coughed as though\nit would cough its head off. Then the princess began to laugh for the\nthird time. The more it coughed the more she laughed till it seemed as\nthough she might die of laughing.\n\n\"That makes the third time,\" cried Barney, \"and now I think you'll own\nI've fairly won the princess.\"\n\nWell, no one could deny that, so he was taken to another grand room\nin the palace and there he was washed and combed and dressed in fine\nclothes, and when that was done, he looked so brave and straight and\nhandsome that the princess was glad enough to have him for a husband.\n\nThey were married the next day, and a coach and four were sent to\nbring the old mother to the wedding. When she came and saw her own\nson, Barney, dressed in that way and holding a royal princess by the\nhand, she could hardly believe her eyes, and almost died of joy as the\nprincess had of laughing. A great feast was made, and the little man in\ngreen was there, too, and feasted with the best of them, but nobody saw\nhim for he had his red cap on his head, and that made him invisible.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTranscriber's Notes:\n\nObvious punctuation errors repaired.\n\nPage 29, \"whinning\" changed to \"whining\" (fox whining to itself)\n\nPage 156, \"shown\" changed to \"shone\" (they shone so that)\n\nPage 157, \"shown\" changed to \"shone\" (light shone through)\n\nPage 209, repeated word \"and\" removed from text. Original read (the sky\nand and she was)\n\nPage 280, \"horsehair\" changed to \"horse-hair\" to match rest of usage\n(coarse as horse-hair and)","title":"Fairy Tales from Many Lands","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":48477}